


This Place is Haunted, Possession by a Ghost

by OohYayChicken



Category: Motionless in White (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Betrayal, Bittersweet Ending, F/F, M/M, Past Suicidal Thoughts, Ricky's so cute in this tbh, chricky, first Chricky yay, ghost!ricky, idk tbh, it's only mentioned like once i think, possibly?, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-02-14 21:21:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 21,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2203500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OohYayChicken/pseuds/OohYayChicken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris and his mom move to a new home after his parents divorce, but they just so happen to move into a home that occupies a ghost.  What happens when Chris and said ghost grow close?</p><p>Title from Motionless In White's "Undead Ahead"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"So, how do you like the house, Chris?" I barely hear my mom ask through my headphones.  It's then when I notice the car pull into a driveway.  The house is a simple two-story home, but it's still nice.  I like it so far,  actually, but I won't let her know.  She made me move away from my four best friends, of course I'm gonna be pissed.  So, my answer is a simple shrug and a frown.  Mom frowns at me as she hops out of the car.  I take my music out of my ears and get out myself so I can start helping with moving everything into the house.

 

"Look, Chris, it's not like you're never gonna talk to your friends again. You still have their numbers, and Kiks, and all the other unnecessary social media you kids these days have.  I ignore what she said though.  I just wanna get this done and over with so I can talk to Balz and Devin and Ryan and Angelo.

 

<><><>

 

It took hours to put the furniture in the rooms and unpack, but at least all I have to do now is unpack everything in my room.  I'm taking a break, though, and eating dinner with Mom.  She had brought wings home for dinner so we made up.  That, and I got to talk to Balz for a few minutes while she went to get the wings.  All we talked about was my new house and how much they miss me.  But anyways, we had wings for dinner, now me and Mom are cool.

 

Mom clears her throat from across the table, and I glance up at her, showing her that I had her attention.

 

"You start school tomorrow morning, so don't take too long to unpack, alright?" she informs me.  I nod and throw my bones away before leaving my mom alone in the kitchen so I could hurry up and finish unpacking.  I wanna hurry up and get it done so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow.

I enter my room and pick up a box labeled "socks & underwear" and place it down onto my dresser.  As I start putting those away, I see something with dark shoulder-length hair and dark clothing shift from the corner of my eye, and on reflex, snap my head towards their direction.  I blink confusedly as I see nothing there.  I fear slight fear as I think about what I just saw.  Could it have been a ghost?  Or just a figment of my imagination?  I'm gonna go with the latter, just to be safe.  I mean, I tend to hallucinate at occasionally.

 

Yeah, that's all it was.  A hallucination.

 

Now convinced that I'm safe, I unpack my socks and things into the dresser until they're all unpacked.  I then work on unpacking everything else until everything's unpacked.  I smile, relieved, as I look at the time.  It's around eleven, so I get changed into something more comfortable before crawling into bed.

 

<><><>

 

I jog down the stairs and into the kitchen where my mom's leaned against the counter, sipping from a mug.  She greets me.

 

"Morning," I mumble as I open the fridge, scanning its contents.  Eh, I'm most likely looking for milk.

 

I sulk when there isn't any.

 

"Lame, no milk," I mumble sadly as I close the fridge.

 

"Oops. Sorry," Mom giggles sheepishly.  I sigh.

 

"So you went to the grocery store and forgot to buy milk?"

 

She does it all the time.

 

"Pretty much," she answers as she finishes whatever was in her mug and places it in the sink.  "Want me to take you to school today?"

 

"You have to. I don't know where it is," I answer her.  She rolls her eyes.

 

"Not really, I could make you look for it on your own."

 

"And I'd have the right to say it was your fault," I say victoriously as I start heading towards the door.

 

<><><>

 

Mom pulls up by the hellish prison many call school.  I quickly lean away and smirk as she leans in to plant a kiss to my cheek and get out of the car, saying bye before slamming the door shut.  I walk up to the building as she drives away.  I ignore the many looks thrown my way as I walk towards the office, which is thankfully by the front doors.  At my last school it was on the other side of the fucking school.  Like, what the fuck.

 

When I get to the office, I can hear shouting on the other side.  Should I go in or..?  I shrug and let myself in.  The first thing I notice is a bored looking student, slouching lazily in a chair, and I then notice that he's being lectured for something.  I don't care what it is, I just care about getting my schedule.  I wait by the desk for someone to give it to me.  The woman shouting at the kid stops and turns to me with a scowl.  She's most likely a bitch then, I can see.

 

"And you are?" her loud voice echoes in the small room.

 

"Christopher Cerulli. I need my schedule," I answer her, sounding as unamused as she is.  She scoffs as she digs through some files, handing me my schedule when she finds it.

 

"Thanks," I thank her as I look through it.  

 

"Um, may I go now?" the boy asks impatiently from the chair he's seated in.  

 

"Yes, and bring Mr. Cerulli with you, since you're both in the same class right now."

 

He looks up at me for the first time since I've been in here, and he smiles a bit.  He hops up and follows me out of the office.

 

"Well, she's a fucking bitch," I mumble once the door's been closed.  He chuckles.

 

"Yeah, the students here all hate her. I'm Craig, by the way," he says as he starts walking down the hall.  I follow after the shorter boy.

 

"Alright."

 

"If you want, you can sit with me and my friend.  There's an empty seat next to mine by the window," he offers, and honestly, I'm grateful for it.

 

"Yeah, sure," I answer.

 

We eventually stop at a classroom, and he opens the door for me.  I casually enter, all eyes on me.  Craig follows me in and closes the door behind us.  

 

"Cerulli, Christopher?" a woman, who I'm assuming is my teacher, asks.  Unlike the principal's, her voice is soft and friendly.  

 

"Chris," I correct her.

 

"Chris," she corrects herself with a warm smile that I can't help but return slightly. "I'm Ms. Hanning."

 

"Alright," I answer her as I follow Craig to his seat, and I sit at the one next to his, by the window.  

 

"Ronnie, this is Chris," Craig introduces his friend to me as he slides down in his seat a bit so Ronnie can see me better. "Chris, this is Ronnie."

 

"W'sup," Ronnie greets me.

 

"Sup."

 

And that's how I awkwardly made two friends.


	2. Chapter 2

I usually pass eating lunch on the first few days of a new school so I can see how it is first. You know, see if it looks edible and asking my friends if it tastes okay. My eyes scan the cafeteria for two familiar faces. I spot them over towards a corner with two other boys. I make my way over to my friends and peers I'm about to be introduced to.  
  
When I sit in between Craig and Ronnie, I gain their attention.  
  
"Oh, Chris! Glad you found us! I thought I was gonna have to look around for you," Craig says happily. "They're Nick and Johnny, by the way."  
  
I look across the table at them. We exchange our greetings.  
  
"You're not homophobic or anything, are you?" one of them, Johnny, I believe, asks. I smirk a bit.  
  
"That would make me a hypocrite."  
  
"Thank God, we finally get another friend!" the other, I'm guessing Nick, sighs happily. "Other people who thought we could be friends couldn't handle the idea of being with a gay boy and a bisexual boy."  
  
"We're in a homophobic, racist, sexist school. Well, if you even choose to call it that," Ronnie adds.  
  
"Well, fuck. My last school was just like this one, then," I groan. "I mean, I couldn't go a week without having to kick some prick's ass."  
  
"It'll be different here. Ronnie kicked enough ass to scare the pricks off," Craig says.  
  
"Good, I don't think I can take another detention," I chuckle.  
  
"Well, where are you from, Chris?" Nick asks.  
  
"Pennsylvania."  
  
"We're from Utah," Johnny says.  
  
"Me and Ronnie are from Nevada," Craig then says.  
  
"Alright."  
  
"That's always your answer, isn't it?" Craig asks, amused. I shrug.  
  
"Kinda," I answer.  
  
<><><>  
  
At the end of the day, the five of us met at the front of the school and phones were passed around. Then we all head to our homes. My walk won't be lonely since Nick lives a few houses down from me.  
  
"So Chris, have your eye on any boys yet?" Nick asks. I sigh sadly.  
  
"Back at Pennsylvania, I had a small crush on my friend Balz. But at school here, no," I answer half truthfully. I think Nick and Craig are cute. Nick doesn't believe me.  
  
"Awe, come on! There's gotta be  _someone!_  I won't tell!"  
  
I sigh. Nick's one of my best friends now, I can trust him.  
  
"Two," I answer him, and his face brightens.  
  
"Really? Who?"  
  
"I think you and Craig are cute, but don't worry, I'm not attracted to you romantically," I answer, fully truthfully. He seems surprised and even blushes a bit.  
  
"Oh, alright then," he replies awkwardly, but he's back to normal and smiling again. "I think Craig's cute too, but he's straight. Thankfully Johnny's bi, so we're together."  
  
"This is my house," I say as I stop. His smile drops as he looks to the house, but I choose not to say anything. If he wants me to know, he'll tell me.  
  
"Oh, okay. I like hugs, so..."  
  
I smile and roll my eyes at him, pulling him into a hug. He pulls away after a few seconds.  
  
"Bye, Chris! See ya!" Nick says his farewell before walking three houses down, approaching his own house.  
  
I pull my key out of my pocket and use it to unlock the front door, stepping in the house once I do so.  
  
Mom had explained to me earlier that she wouldn't be at home when she got here because she'll be at work. Apparently she was able to keep her job, she just works at a different hospital. I kick my shoes off, deciding I’m gonna leave them by the door from now on, since these are the only pairs I wear anyways. I enter the kitchen and open the fridge, hoping to find something to snack on. The best I can find is a cheese stick, so I take it and pull it out of it’s package. I throw the plastic away and stuff the cheese in my mouth as I slam the fridge door shut, a little too hard.  
  
I choke on my cheese a bit when I hear a crash followed by urgent footsteps from upstairs, in my room. But Mom’s not here?! Alarmed, I run up the stairs and into my room. My box of CDs is now on the floor, CDs spilling out of it, some of them now broken. I glance around the room, but no one’s in here but me.  
  
So what I saw last night wasn’t a hallucination? Is there really a ghost?  
  
Fuck.  
  
Is it friendly? Is it hostile? Will it come at me?  
  
It most likely won’t, considering the fact that it ran when it made a noise. It’s probably scared of me.  
  
Well, shit, I’m scared of it too!  
  
I pull my phone out of my pocket and pull up Nick’s contact. I send in a quick text.  
  
 **me: could u come ovr? i dont want to b here by myself right now…**  
  
A minute or two later, there’s banging at my front door. I jog down the stairs and to the door, opening it to reveal a concerned Nick.  
  
“Everything alright?” he asks me. I step aside and let him in, closing the door behind him.  
  
“Something’s in the house. It knocked my CDs over and broke them, then I heard it run away,” I explain to him quickly. “I really don’t wanna be here by myself.”  
  
Nick nods, understanding my fear.  
  
I speak again.  
  
“And I think I saw the thing last night, I don’t know.”  
  
That gains his attention.  
  
“What did it look like?”  
  
I think about it, but I can’t seem to remember. I didn’t find it necessary to remember until now.  
  
“I forgot. And I couldn’t really get a good look at it. I saw it out of the corner of my eye but when I turned to face it, it wasn’t there anymore,” I tell him.  
  
“I don’t know, Chris. Want me to stay here with you tonight then?”  
  
“Just for tonight, thanks.”


	3. Chapter 3

It's around nine pm, and Nick is already sleep in my bed. I said he could sleep in it and I'd sleep on the floor and he didn't argue. I'm in the bathroom so I don't wake him up while I call Balz.  
  
I FaceTime him and wait for him to pick up. He does after a few seconds. I smile at the excited face on my screen.  
  
"Chris!" Balz exclaims excitedly and I shush him. He looks confused.  
  
"My friend's sleeping," I tell him.  
  
"Oh. How's the new house?" he asks me, his tone much quieter.  
  
"This place is haunted," I answer. His face brightens at that.  
  
"Seriously?! Awesome!"  
  
"No, not awesome," I correct his false statement. He only laughs and I can feel heat rushing to my face.  
  
"Awe, Christopher is scared of a little ghost!" Balz mocks me.  
  
"Shut the fuck up, Nutsack," the nickname makes him as pissed as I am. "You don't have to live with it. I don't even know if it's hostile or not. It already broke some of my CDs."  
  
"If it was hostile, don't you think it would have attacked already?"  
  
As much as I hate to admit it, he's right.  
  
No, wait, I still need more proof that it's harmless.  
  
Maybe I can add that it ran away when it knew I heard it after it fucked with my CDs?  
  
And that it actually picked them up and put everything back in it's spot and took care of the broken ones for me?  
  
"See?"  
  
"I said that out loud?"  
  
"Mhm. So you still think it's hostile?"  
  
Balz, you bitch. Now I can't lie.  
  
"Now that I put it all together, it's most likely harmless. And it may even be a bit scared of me."  
  
"Or maybe it likes you. Like,  _like_  like you," Balz suggests, a smirk creeping it's way onto his face. I scoff and roll my eyes. "Oh, have you met anyone you're into yet?"  
  
I sigh.  
  
"I met two cute guys, but one of them are straight and the other already has a boyfriend. But I'm not attracted to them romantically or anything, you know?"  
  
"Uh-huh. So-"  
  
"JOSH! DINNER!"  
  
It must be six back at Scranton. We have like... a three hour time difference then.  
  
"Bye, Chris!"  
  
"Bye, Balz. I'll probably go to bed since it's like nine over here," I inform my best friend, and he understandingly nods before hanging up. I sigh and head back to my room to change into some comfier clothes. I peel my skinny jeans off and replace them with sweats before making the floor comfier with blankets and pillows.  
  
Then my stomach growls.  
  
I sigh as I get up and creep downstairs so I can get a snack but stop as I see something sitting on the couch with my mom's laptop in it's lap. I freeze. It's too busy scrolling through something and occasionally clicking to notice me, so I take advantage of that and study it. Like my 'hallucination' last night, it has dark shoulder-length hair and dark clothing. It's a guy, and the glow from the laptop helps me see that he's around my age and really cute. Like, cuter that Nick and Craig and Balz combined. I think? Let's just go with it. His crystal blue eyes are rimmed with dark makeup and he has pale skin.  
  
Well, maybe it's because he's a ghost.  
  
Does he even have skin?  
  
Is he gonna be like mist or something?  
  
I decide against getting a snack from the fridge and creep back upstairs.  
  
What was he doing on the computer anyways?  
  
<><><>  
  
"I saw the ghost again," I tell Nick the second I see his eyes open.  
  
"Yeah, okay," he said as he sits up and stretches. I roll my eyes at my best friend.  
  
"Just get ready for school, okay?" I tell him.  
  
"But what about you?"  
  
"I'm ready, dumbass. Hurry up or I'll leave without you."  
  
<><><>  
  
Nick and I soon find ourselves approaching the school, and the second he sees Johnny, he throws himself into his arms. I see Johnny kiss Nick's forehead and whisper something in his ear and I smile. They're honestly really cute together. I walk past them and to my first class for today.  
  
And what do you fucking know, I don’t fucking know anyone in here.  
  
I sigh as I make my way to the back of the classroom and sit at one of the empty seats, the one in the far corner. After a couple minutes, a girl approaches, and a soft, hesitant voice speaks.  
  
“U-um, sir, I usually l-like to sit the-there,” the voice of the girl stutters. I look up at her. She has what I’d call cyan blue hair and fringe, light blue eyes outlined with eyeliner, and a septum, and she looks really anxious and uncomfortable. I smile up at her and nod.  
  
“Sorry bout that,” I say sweetly, and she calms a bit and smiles a bit.  
  
“Thank you,” she says quietly, sounding way less anxious, but I can still hear a bit of it. I nod again before getting up and sitting in the seat next to hers as she sits.  
  
“I’m Chris Cerulli, by the way,” I speak up again.  
  
“I’m Nicole Kettle, but I don’t really like my name, so I go by Blue, the nickname my girlfriend gave me,” she answers. Then she looks as anxious as before. “A-are you okay with the fact that I-I have a g-girlfriend?”  
  
I chuckle a bit.  
  
“If I wasn’t, It’d be kinda hypocritical.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I’m gay, Blue.”  
  
“Oh, okay,” she says, and most of the anxiety leaves her voice again. “Do you have a boyfriend?”  
  
“No,” I answer her.  
  
“Do you have your eyes on anyone?” she asks quietly as she turns her whole body to face me. She leans forward, her elbows on her knees, holding her chin in her hands. I turn towards her too.  
  
“Craig Mabbitt and Nick Matthews,” I answer. “But Craig’s straight and Nick already has a boyfriend.” She smiles at my answer.  
  
“I used to have a crush on them too, actually,” she giggles. “And I totally ship Nick and Johnny! They’re just- awe! And is it bad that I ship Craig and Ronnie Radke too?”  
  
I shrug. “Not really, and now that I think about it, they’d be cute together too. Too bad they’re both straight.”  
  
“Yeah. I saw you hanging with the four yesterday. Are they nice? I’ve always been too scared to approach them,” she says. I nod.  
  
“Why don’t you sit with us today?” I offer, and she sighs.  
  
“I’d really love too, but I usually sit with my girlfriend.”  
  
“She can sit with us too! Come on, they won’t bite! If they do I’ll rip their dicks off.”  
  
She giggles at that, and finally agrees.  
  
And that’s how I got my fifth friend the third day here in Washington.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“Who’re you looking for, Chris?” Ronnie asks as I scan the lunchroom one more time. Before I can reply, I spot Blue standing by the cafeteria doors, looking around the room awkwardly and anxiously. There’s a girl with reddish brownish hair that curls at the tips and fringe standing with her, and I assume that she’s Blue’s girlfriend.  
  
“There you are,” I mutter quietly as I hop up out of me seat and jog across the room towards their direction. I stop right in front of them, gaining their attention.  
  
“There you are, Chris!” Blue says happily as she looks up at me. She’s like two heads shorter than me. “This is Adriana, my girlfriend.” Adriana is one head shorter than me. I look to Adriana now and smile at her. She returns it.  
  
“I’m Chris,” I tell introduce myself, stating facts she already knows.  
  
“I’m Adriana,” she does the same.  
  
“Shall we sit now and introduce you guys to my friends?”  
  
They both nod and follow me to our table. When I approach it, my friends look to me curiously.  
  
“Um, Chris?” Ronnie asks, nodding towards the two girls behind me. I smile at my male friends.  
  
“Ronnie, Craig, Nick, Johnny, meet Blue and Adriana,” I say as I point to each girl. “Blue and Adriana, meet Ronnie, Craig, Nick and Johnny.”  
  
The six greet each other as I sit next to Johnny. Blue sits next to me and Adriana sits across from her next to Craig. For a good ten seconds, we all awkwardly look around at each other, waiting for someone to speak. The silence is broken when Craig sniggers, making Ronnie snigger to.  
  
“What’s so funny?” Johnny asks them, wanting to laugh himself.  
  
“We’re all just looking at each other and it’s awkward,” Craig answers him.  
  
“And I’m laughing because he laughed out of nowhere,” Ronnie says.  
  
“Well, anyways. I think Blue and Adriana should tell us about themselves,” Nick suggests, trying to start a conversation. The two girls shrug at the same time.  
  
“What do you wanna know?” Blue asks quietly, shy around new people. She’s not very shy around me anymore since we hung out all first class, and the class after that one. We have two classes together so far, so that’s pretty cool.  
  
“Are you single?”  
  
Craig, you fucking moron.  
  
“No, she’s taken,” Adriana answers for her, wrapping an arm around her waist to prove her correct.  
  
“Oh, okay,” Craig says with a smile, even though he sounds a bit disappointed. Ronnie tries to hold back a laugh, but it slips out anyways, and Ronnie starts sniggering.  
  
“Fuck you, Ronnie,” Craig snaps at Ronnie.  
  
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you, Craigafer?” Ronnie snaps back.  
  
“Let’s just ignore them,” Johnny suggests. “Just tell us something about yourselves. Like, what kind of music do you like, what kind of movies, etcetera.”  
  
“We both like bands,” Adriana answers for her and her girlfriend.  
  
“Awesome! What bands?”  
  
“Bands like Paramore, Lit, Marilyn Manson, Breaking Benjamin,” Blue answers.  
  
“Testament, Megadeth, Linkin Park, Slipknot, HIM, bands like those,” Adriana finishes.  
  
“Then we will all get along just fine!” Nick chuckles.  
  
<><><>  
  
When we all went our separate ways to get home, me, Nick, and Blue ended up walking together. Blue only lives a couple blocks away from us, so it only makes sense to let her walk with us.  
  
I hug both Nick and Blue when I get to my house, Nick sighing when he looks at my house.  
  
Something about this house makes him sad.  
  
I decide, again, not to question him about it. If he wanted me to know, he’d tell me.  
  
I walk up to my door and unlock it, letting myself in. Again, my mom isn’t home. I think she has Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, I forgot. I kick my shoes off and lock the door behind me before going up to my room. When I get in there, I grab something comfortable to put on before heading to the bathroom. I haven’t showered since before we left Scranton on...Thursday or Friday? Maybe Wednesday? Well, it’s Tuesday now, so regardless, I really need a shower. I drop my clean clothes onto the toilet (not before making sure the lid is closed) and preparing the shower. When the water’s warm enough I strip and hop in. I do what I need to do before turning the water off and getting out of the shower, only to jump a couple feet into the air out of fear and surprise.  
  
Me and the ghost make immediate eye contact as I stare down at it with wide eyes. We just stare at each other for a while, not saying anything.  
  
Shit, at least he’s keeping his eyes locked on my face. I’m ass naked without a towel or anything.  
  
I study his face. He looks scared, surprised, anxious, and if you look hard enough, sad, even.  
  
“U-Um, sorry about th-the CDs. It was an accident, I swear,” he rushes out before bolting out of the bathroom.  
  
That was the weirdest moment of my entire life.


	5. Chapter 5

After I get all my clothes on, I dial Balz’s number for FaceTime. He hangs up and sends me a text instead.  
  
 **Balz: d00d cant ft im @ school.  
  
me: fuck forgot about the time difference sorry  
  
Balz: dont wry bout it ill call u when i get out  
  
me: ok talk to you later  
  
Balz: oh shit teach bout to tak da phone!!!  
  
me: omg who?**  
  
He doesn’t reply after that, so I’m guessing he got his phone taken away. If he’s in Mr. Pat’s class I’ll get a text from Angelo’s phone since I remember them together in that class.  
  
I get a text from Angelo in less than a minute.  
  
 **Angelo: mr pat**  
  
<><><>  
  
A few hours later, Balz calls me for FaceTime. I answer him and his face pops up onto the screen.  
  
“You called earlier,” he states.  
  
“Yeah, I saw the ghost again a few hours ago, like, up close,” I tell him, and that catches his attention quickly.  
  
“Really? Is it a boy or girl?”  
  
“A boy.”  
  
“Do you think he’s cute?”  
  
“Super cute, Balz.”  
  
“What’s he look like?” I hear another familiar voice ask.  
  
“Devin?”  
  
“Yeah! But for real, what does he look like?” Devin asks again.  
  
“He has dark shoulder-length black hair, blue eyes, and he’s a little shorter that Balz,” I answer the best I can. Devin hums before speaking up again.  
  
“What’s his name?”  
  
“I don’t know, he freaked out and ran before I could say anything to him,” I sigh.  
  
“Why didn’t you run after him?” Balz asks me now.  
  
“Because I had just gotten out of the shower! I was straight up naked!”  
  
Devin and Balz crack up at that, leaving me to blush furiously.  
  
These fucking motherfuckers.  
  
“Chris, this guy  _definitely_  likes you!” Balz claims.  
  
“He doesn’t even know me! I don’t even know  _him_!” I whine and pout.  
  
“Go look for him! He’s gotta be in that house somewhere!”  
  
“Fine!”  
  
“Call us back after you talk to him!”  
  
And with that, my two idiot friends hang up, leaving me to look for the ghost. I sigh and lock my iPhone before tossing it onto the couch next to me. I get up and decide where to look. Maybe I’ll try the bathroom? I mean, he had to be in there for a reason. No, I’m pretty sure he’d done that three hours ago after I’ve left the bathroom. Maybe he’s hanging around my room since he’s been digging through my stuff? I creep up the stairs towards my room and quietly push the door open. He’s not in there. Maybe I can check Mom’s room? I mean, he  _did_  take her laptop for whatever reason. So, I creep over to her bedroom and quietly push the door open and peek inside.  
  
Found him.  
  
He’s sitting on Mom’s bed, and yes, he’s on her computer, but he was typing something, biting his lip as if he were concentrating. I take a deep breath and step inside, closing the door behind me. The click of the door was enough to gain his attention as his head snaps up and towards my direction. We make eye contact again, and he wears the same expression from earlier.  
  
 _What the fuck do I say to him?!_  
  
“Um…” I start as I take a step forward. He closes the laptop and glances around the room desperately before locking eyes with me again. I take another step forward, then another, and another, until I’m finally standing right in front of the bed. He looks up at me and bites his lip, which I find so fucking adorable. “I...come in peace?”  
  
He only stares up at me in response.  
  
“Uh…” I start awkwardly. “I’m Chris Cerulli.”  
  
He’s quiet for a second.  
  
“Ricky Olson,” he says quietly. I smile at him and he pulls a small one up, but my smile falters a bit when I notice that his smile is fake.  
  
“You, um, don’t have to be scared of me, y’know?” I try as I start to climb up onto the bed. He tries to scoot away, but only manages to get a few inches away before hitting the headboard.  
  
“But…” he starts quietly, but he stops himself and drops his gaze to his lap.  
  
“But?” I ask patiently. He doesn’t say anything, just continues to stare at his lap.  
  
“Will you trust me if I tell you about myself?”  
  
He sighs very softly.  
  
“Maybe…”  
  
I smile a little.  _Maybe_  usually means yes, right?  
  
“Well, I already told you that my name’s Chris Cerulli. I turned eighteen on October 17th, my favorite band is Slipknot, I love wings, and I’m gay,” I tell him a few things. “Can you tell me about you now?”  
  
“Um…” he starts and takes a deep breath while I watch him in awe.  
  
He’s  
So  
Fucking  
Cute.  
  
“My name’s Ricky Olson, I was born September 1st, I died when I was seventeen, my favorite band is HIM, I love wings too, and I’m also gay,” he says quietly.  
  
“Ricky?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Mind if I ask you something?” I ask him, feeling a bit nervous actually.  
  
“Uh… Go ahead, I guess,” he hesitates before agreeing.  
  
“When did you die?”  
  
He bites his lip as he tries to remember.  
  
“I think some time in November last year,” he answers me sadly, and I just wanna hug him and tell him that everything will be alright but I don’t wanna scare him away so soon. It’s February now so he’s been dead for maybe around three months. I wanna ask him  _how_  he died but it may be too soon for that.  
  
We both flinch as my phone buzzes in my pocket. I smile at him apologetically before pulling my phone out, seeing that I've received a text from Devin.  
  
“Who is it?” he asks softly. I smile at him.  
  
“My friend Devin. He’s in Scranton.”  
  
He bites his lip, thinking.  
  
“That’s in Pennsylvania, right?” he asks me as I read the message. Devin asked me if I had any luck.  
  
“Sure is,” I sigh as I reply to Devin with a “yeah i found him”.  
  
“You miss your friend?” he asks sympathetically, and all I do is nod.  
  
“Sure do. But it’s okay, I can still talk to them. And I also made more friends here,” I explain to him with a smile.  
  
“I miss my friends, too,” he mutters, and I can just hear how sad and heart broken he is and his voice cracks halfway through the sentence and  _oh my god_  I wanna cry because I don’t know how to make him feel better. The tears actually start to rim my eyes as I see tears form up in his own. I do the first thing that comes to mind and hold my arms out for him. He hesitates for a second before crawling into my arms, accepting my hug. I wrap my arms protectively around his small form as he silently cries into my shoulder.  
  
I always thought that ghosts would be wispy and misty, that you couldn’t touch them. I also thought that they were kinda translucent, white, and kinda floated about. I thought they were just like the ghosts you see in cartoons. But Ricky’s just like a human, just not as warm as the average human.  
  
I really like holding Ricky like this. His skin is soft, his hair is soft, he smells  _really_  good, and it just feels… right.  
  
After a few minutes, he pulls away and wipes at his eyes.  
  
“Sorry ‘bout that,” he apologizes. “I think I’ll just come back when I get a hold of myself. So I’ll, uh, see you later then.”  
  
Before I can protest, he’s up and bolting out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

After the whole Ricky incident, I call Balz and Devin like I said I would. They pick up immediately.  
  
“So you found him, then?” Balz asks when his face appears on the screen.  
  
“Yeah, his name is Ricky,” I answer him.  
  
“What’s he like? Did he tell you about himself?”  
  
“He’s really shy and quiet and anxious and adorable, and he did tell me a bit about himself when I told him about me,” I answer him. Suddenly I hear a flush.  
  
“EW BALZ!”  
  
“HEY! I WAS ALREADY SHITTING WHEN YOU CALLED ME!” he defends himself with a frown and I laugh at his patheticness.  
  
I used to have a crush on this idiot, so that makes me equally pathetic.  
  
“Well anyways, what were you able to learn from him?”  
  
“He said he likes wings and his favorite band is HIM and he’s also gay and he’s seventeen and died November last year,” I tell him what I remember, Josh nodding, taking it all in. I see him leave the bathroom and head down into the living room.  
  
“Devin, Chris said that Ricky loves wings and HIM and he’s gay and died when he was seventeen in November,” Josh says as he enters his living room.  
  
“Do you like him, Chris?” Devin asks me and I smile.  
  
“I kinda do a little bit,” I answer.  
  
“Can you touch ghosts?” Devin asks curiously as the phone is snatched from Balz’s hands and a feminine guy’s face now appears on the screen.  
  
“Yeah, you can,” I answer him. His eyes widen very slightly, surprised. He thought you couldn’t touch them like I had thought.  
  
“What do they feel like?”  
  
“They feel like any ordinary human, just not as warm as one,” I tell him.  
  
“Maybe because he’s dead,” Devin suggests before Balz snatches the phone back.  
  
“How’d he die?” Balz then asks. I shrug.  
  
“Didn’t ask him,” I answer.  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“He’s really scared of me, and I barely managed to get him to say anything to me,” I answer. He goes ‘oh’ before his mom calls him and tells him to go to the grocery store for her. The three of us say our goodbyes so the two of them can go to the store. I toss my phone to the side and decide what I want for dinner. Maybe there’s leftover wings from Sunday? I get up and go to the fridge, and to my delight, there’s a couple wings left. I grab them and eat them cold, too lazy to heat them up. They’re good cold too, so yeah. I throw the bones away when I’m done along with the empty container and leave the kitchen again before grabbing my phone again, going upstairs once it’s in my possession. I push my mom’s bedroom door open and steal her computer before going to my own. I’m curious as to what he was doing on the computer earlier when I came in to talk to him, because whatever it is, he was really concentrated on it.  
  
I enter my room and get myself comfy on the bed before opening the laptop, and it tells me to put in the password.  
  
 _What’s the fucking password?!_  
  
I type in the first thing that comes to mind: “password”.  
  
And it logs me in.  
  
Me and Ricky were able to figure out her password. You know what they say, two minds think alike!  
  
Once it’s logged in, it brings me to what looks like Google Docs or whatever it’s called.  
  
I think he was writing lyrics.  
  
I flinch when the laptop is pulled off my lap suddenly before I can read anything and look to see Ricky quickly logging out of his email and closing the tabs.  
  
“I, uh, d-don’t really like people r-reading my lyrics,” Ricky mutters quietly as he closes the lid to the laptop. I frown slightly.  
  
“Oh, sorry ‘bout that,” I apologize as Ricky stands there awkwardly.  
  
“Don’t worry about it. Did you...read anything?”  
  
I shake my head no and I can see that he looks a bit relieved.  
  
“You feeling better from earlier?” I ask calmly so I don’t scare him away too soon. He nods and hesitatingly moves to sit on the bed next to me.  
  
“Thanks and sorry for that, by the way,” he mutters.  
  
“Hey, if you need a friend, I’ll be here, unless I’m not home,” I tell him with a smile. “Alright?”  
  
“Alright,” he answers, sounding a bit more confident. We’re left in an awkward silence after that, but it’s comfortable to the two of us. I speak after a minute.  
  
“Don’t you get lonely sometimes? You know, being all by yourself?”  
  
“Yeah, but I’ve been by myself for years before last summer, I’m used to it now,” he answers truthfully, and I frown.  
  
“I wish you weren’t, because I hate being alone, a lot,” I tell him sadly.  
  
“It’s okay, I don’t have to be alone anymore. Right?”  
  
Is he referring to me living here?  
  
“That’s right,” I agree with a smile, and he smiles too. This one looks more real than his other smiles.  
  
“Well, let’s hang out! What do you wanna do?” I ask him excitedly.  
  
“Sounds fun, but it has to be something done in the house. I can’t leave it,” he answers sadly, and I frown.  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“A ghost can’t leave the place they died in, and since I died in this house, I can’t leave it anymore,” Ricky says sadly. “That’s why I can’t see my friends.”  
  
I can’t help but feel bad for the poor thing. I’d go crazy if I was locked up in my house for the rest of my days, not able to see my friends or anything I love in the world outside my home. Maybe I can try to bring them to him? But wouldn’t it be awkward bringing someone I don’t know to my house?  _Oh, hey, stranger! I have a friend back at home, he’s a ghost. You guys used to be friends so come into my home so you can talk to your ghost friend!_  That’s not normal, it’s weird and creepy and it’ll make me sound like I’m trying to get them into my house so I can kill them or something.  
  
But would it make Ricky happy? Would it be worth it?  
  
If I were to try it, get reported by the police, and receive whatever the punishment is, be worth it?  
  
No, it would just mean Ricky loses another friend, right?  
  
That’s not what he needs at all.  
  
“Okay, we can do some indoor things.”


	7. Chapter 7

My mom's one of those people who're dumb enough to leave a few hundreds in a cookie jar so I took it and used it to buy an Xbox and some video games for me and Ricky. After buying all the stuff, I head back home, where Ricky was waiting for my return by the front door.  
  
"These games okay?" I ask him, showing them to him. He shrugs.  
  
"I never had an Xbox," he tells me. "But we can try 'em."  
  
"My dad had an Xbox, so I would play it before me and my mom moved," I tell him.  
  
I hand him the games as I bring the Xbox to the TV. I carefully take it out of its packaging shit slams plug it into the TV and bring the remotes to Ricky.  
  
"We're gonna make our profiles first," I tell him as I turn one remote on, putting the over to the side.  
  
I make my account and avatar and let Ricky make his, making sure he knew how to do it. He gives me my controller back and I sign back into my account before helping Ricky with his.  
  
"What game do you wanna play first?" I ask him. He stares at the game cases again, giving me the opportunity to appreciate how fucking cute he is. I don't get to do it much because he turns back towards me a second later.  
  
"I had a friend who talked about Halo often," he says. I smile.  
  
"Alright," I answer as I reach for the game. He hands it to me and I move to put the game in the Xbox, sitting back down after I do it.  
  
"I'll teach you how to play."  
  
<><><>  
  
We've been playing for a few hours when my phone rings.  
  
"Alright, Rick, you may kill my player if you see it, since your score is kinda pathetic," I chuckle, earning a whine from him.  
  
No, seriously. He has like three kills, I have twenty-two.  
  
I answer the FaceTime from Balz.  
  
"Hey! What's up over there?" Balz greets me happily. I smile down at the screen.  
  
"Playing video games," I answer him, showing him the Xbox controller. I toss the controller down, accidentally pulling the trigger, and I throw a grenade at the wall, it bounces off, explodes, and I die. The narrator says "suicide" in that deep voice, and now my score is twenty-one. Ricky laughs at me and I frown.  
  
"Ah, I see what's going on," Balz mocks, smirk on his face.  
  
"Yeah, I'm playing video games with my best friend in Washington," I tell him, a tad bit irritated.  
  
"Sure, sure," he continues anyway. "So who's there?"  
  
"It's Ricky," I answer.  
  
His eyes widen a bit.  
  
"So you actually befriended him? Tell him hey for me!"  
  
"Rick, Josh says hey," I tell him as Ricky kills me in the game. I glance up at the screen, eyes wide as I hear that deep voice go "gained the lead- lost the lead".  
  
"OH MY FUCKING- YOU HAD LIKE THREE KILLS HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET MORE THAN ME THAT QUICK?!"  
  
"You let me," Ricky smirks.  
  
"Oh? Well I'm gonna get you now," I warn him as I grab my controller.  
  
"HEY RICKY MY NAME IS JOSHUA BALZ BUT YOU CAN CALL ME BALZ!!" Balz shouts when I don't introduce him like he had asked for me to.  
  
"Hey," Ricky answers quietly, very shy about talking to new people.  
  
"He said hey, he's really quiet," I tell him as I spot Ricky. Ricky turns around and sprints towards me, and that's when I notice he has a sword. Before I know it, he slices me and kills me.  
  
Ricky and I kill each other several more times while I talk to Balz until I get tired.  
  
"I'm gonna go to bed. Ricky, can you keep Josh company until he goes to bed?" I ask, and he shy nods. Ricky turns the Xbox off and I give him the phone. He keeps the camera facing up towards the ceiling so Balz doesn't see him.  
  
"Uh..." Ricky starts awkwardly.  
  
"You're gonna have to start the conversations with him, Balz. He's insane shy."  
  
"Oh. Well, what kind of things do you like to do?" I hear Balz ask as I walk up to my bedroom and get ready for bed.


	8. Chapter 8

I wake up in the middle of the night when someone viciously shakes me. I sleepily protest and push the arms away from me, only to be yelled at.  
  
“WHAT THE HELL, CHRISTOPHER?!” Mom screams at me, and I’m suddenly wide awake. She’s loud as fuck, I’m surprised the room isn’t fucking shaking. I also hear a thud from the closet but Mom’s too pissed to even notice. That’s good because that might’ve been Ricky.  
  
“What?!” I cry, not knowing what I did wrong. “What did I do?!”  
  
“DON’T ACT STUPID WITH ME! DID YOU THINK I WASN’T GONNA FIND OUT? FIRST OF ALL, I’M MISSING A FEW HUNDREDS AND THERE’S A BIG ASS GAMING SYSTEM AND GAMES I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN FRONT OF THE TV!”  
  
Oh, the Xbox. I did  _not_  think this through…  
  
“Oh. Sorry.”  
  
“SORRY AIN’T GONNA CUT IT! YOU’RE FUCKING  _GROUNDED_  UNTIL I GET THE MONEY BACK!”  
  
And with that, she bolts out of the room, slamming the door behind her. After a few seconds, the closet door opens and Ricky steps out.  
  
“Sorry, Chris,” he apologizes, but I don’t know why. I shrug it off.  
  
“Don’t worry about it, it’s worth it,” I tell him with a smile.  
  
“Oh, okay,” he then tells me.  
  
“Rick, do you sleep in there?” I ask him. He nods and turns to go back into my closet, but I stop him.  
  
“Dude, is it even comfortable?”  
  
“No, but it’s okay,” Ricky answers with a small smile. I shake my head.  
  
“Don’t sleep in the closet, I know it has to be uncomfortable as shit,” I say. “Wanna sleep in my bed and I sleep on the floor?”  
  
He shakes his head.  
  
“Well, wanna sleep in the bed with me? It’s big enough,” I suggest, and deep down I really hope he says yes. He looks down at his feet and nods a bit, and I chuckle at how adorable he is. I bet he’s blushing. “Well, come on then.”  
  
He shuffles over, but stops when he gets to it.  
  
“Wait, what if your mom sees me?”  
  
“Lock the door.”  
  
He nods and moves to lock the door before coming back. He slides into the bed next to me and I hear him sigh contently.  
  
“Way better, huh?” I ask with a smirk.  
  
“Duh,” he mutters. “Night.”  
  
“Night.”  
  
We both lay there for a few minutes, my back turned towards him. I hear him snoring lightly afterwards, the sound bringing me to a peaceful sleep.  
  
<><><>  
  
When I wake up for school the next morning, Ricky’s no longer next to me. I’m kinda disappointed, but I get over it quickly so I can get ready for school. I start by brushing my teeth, then I move back into my room and put on some clothes. Again, I was disappointed when Ricky wasn’t in the closet, but at least he didn’t come sleep on the floor. I glance down at it and see a bunch of random shit laying across the floor. Fuck, you can’t even  _see_  the floor. Anyways, when I’m dressed, I head back into the bathroom and apply my makeup. When I’m all done, I go downstairs into the kitchen and make me some delicious cereal because my mom has milk now. When I’m done with that, I grab my bag for school and dash out of the house and to where Nick and Blue are waiting by the street for me. They both smile when they see me.  
  
“Hey, Chris! Did you get in trouble or something?” Nick asks, and I raise a drawn eyebrow.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“I heard someone yelling. Kinda sounded like your mom,” Nick informs me. “Woke me up.”  
  
Great, so the fucking neighborhood heard her screaming at me in the middle of the night.  
  
“Oh, yeah. I bought an Xbox for me and my friend with her money. I’m grounded until she gets the money back,” I tell him.  
  
“That sucks, me and Adriana were gonna get everyone together and hang out this weekend,” Blue says sadly.  
  
“You guys can still do it, don’t cancel your plans because of me,” I tell her, but she shakes her head.  
  
“If it weren’t for you, it’d only be me, Adriana, and Lukas! I don’t even know Lukas that well! We’re not doing it unless you’re gonna be there!”  
  
“Who’s Lukas?” Nick asks, and to be honest, I was about to ask myself the same thing.  
  
“Adriana’s best friend. He doesn’t go to our school,” Blue answers. “But seriously, we’re not doing it. We’re rescheduling.”  
  
I sigh. She’s not gonna do it without me.  
  
The three of us walk to school in silence, until my phone buzzes in my pocket. A text…  
  
I pull my phone out as Blue and Nick watch curiously. I raise an eyebrow at the contact.  
  
“Balz?”  
  
The two start chuckling at the nickname as I read his message.  
  
 **Balz: d00d cant sleep ugh**  
  
me: what time is it over there?  
  
Balz: lik 4  
  
me: just maybe watch tv till you doze off or something  
  
Balz: i tried dat a cpl hrs ago can i txt u in class or something  
  
me: ok but if I get in trouble I’m going to Scranton and killing you  
  
“Who’re you texting?” Blue curiously asks as she stands on her toes to try to look. The problem with that is that I’m like six feet and a couple inches tall while she’s probably  _almost_  five feet tall.  
  
“My friend Joshua Balz,” I answer her.  
  
“Is his name seriously Balz?” Nick then asks.  
  
“Yup. I call him Nutsack when he pisses me off,” I answer, and the two start chuckling again. I chuckle at them for laughing.  
  
“You guys are lucky I love you.”


	9. Chapter 9

My friends are so fucking awesome they gave me a few dollars to give my mom, and I managed to pickpocket a few people, and all of it totaled up to thirty bucks. When I put my money into it, it turns into $105. I’m a bit less than halfway there! Then I’d still have to get the money for the video games I bought. I smile to myself as I enter the house.  
  
“Ricky, I’m back!” I announce as I pull the money out of my pocket, smiling down at it. Ricky runs into the room happily. I’m surprised when he shoves green papers in my face.  
  
“So I had a secret stash of money for emergencies in a box dug in the ground, so I dug it up and here!” Ricky says happily. “I can’t really spend it on anything anymore anyways.”  
  
I take the money from him, smiling my thanks, and count what I now have. I have a tiny bit over what I need to replace everything, so it’s perfect. Suddenly, my arms are thrown around the shorter boy and pulling him into a tight hug, taking him by surprise.  
  
“Wow, Ricks, you’re the best!” I mumble into his hair, secretly enjoying it’s scent. He smells really good for a dead person, I swear.  
  
“Not really, but it’s really no problem,” he tells me as he lets himself get comfy in the embrace. We stay like that for a few seconds before I pull away and go back into the kitchen, putting the money back into Mom’s ugly ass cookie jar. Like dude, it’s so fucking ugly, I don’t wanna talk about how ugly it is.  
  
“So are you not grounded anymore or?” Ricky asks from the doorway.  
  
“Not yet, we gotta wait for my mom to come home,” I tell him as I leave the kitchen. “What do you wanna do?”  
  
“I don’t know, what do  _you_  wanna do?” he shrugs.  
  
“I don’t know, that’s why I asked you.”  
  
“I don’t know either, so I asked  _you_.”  
  
I chuckle at him.  
  
“You’re such a dork,” I tell him.  
  
“Well, you’re the dork’s best friend,” he smiles as he wanders back into the living room. I smile. He thinks of me as his best friend.  
  
Well, maybe it’s because he has only maybe two friends.  
  
My smile falters slightly. He must really miss his friends. I follow Ricky into the living room, where he’s sitting on the couch, watching whatever he turned on TV. He doesn’t look very interested in it, whatever he’s watching. I plop down on the couch next to him, looking to the TV. I chuckle.  
  
“Bubble Guppies?”  
  
“If that’s what it’s called,” he answers. “Feel free to change it.”  
  
“Netflix? We can watch American Horror Story,” I suggest, and he nods, a small smile on his face.  
  
“Okay.”  
  
<><><>  
  
We only got in one episode before my phone rang, receiving a text from Nick.  
  
“Who’s that?” Ricky asks, still totally into the show playing on Netflix.  
  
“My friend Nick,” I answer him. He rips his gaze from the TV and puts it on me.  
  
“I had a friend named Nick.”  
  
I look to Ricky then, surprised. He seems as surprised as me, plus a bit of sadness. So he was friends with Nick? Is that why Nick looks so sad everytime he looks at my house? Maybe he was even friends with Ronnie and Craig and Johnny and Blue and Adriana. Then he speaks up again.  
  
“Nick Matthews?”  
  
“That’s him.”  
  
“Can...can I talk to him?”  
  
I nod and give him the phone, he reads the message. I kinda forgot to read and reply, huh?  
  
“He said hey,” Ricky tells me.  
  
“Tell him hey back. Talk to him. I’m sure he’d love to talk to you again,” I tell him with a smile, and he nods as he starts typing, eventually sending. I watch the conversation because why not?  
  
 **me: Hey, it’s Ricky.  
  
Nick: Not cool, Chris. Not cool at all.**  
  
I frown. I really didn’t think about this, huh? He probably thinks I’m fucking with him.  
  
 **me: No seriously, it’s Ricky.**  
  
Nick: Who told you about Ricky anyway?  
  
me: You don’t believe me, do you?  
  
Nick: No. AND you’re pissing me off. A lot.  
  
“I think I should stop,” Ricky tells me as he hands the phone back. “Thanks anyway, though.”  
  
I shake my head. “You’ll get to talk to him again, I promise.”  
  
“How?”  
  
“I can always bring him over here, right?” I smile at him as I send Nick a text, telling him to come over. The text I receive isn’t positive, he tells me that he’s pissed at me and that seeing me right now isn’t gonna help it. “But not today, though.”  
  
“Oh, alright,” Ricky says. I feel really bad, seeing him this sad makes me really sad too.  
  
"What'll cheer you up?" I ask hopefully. He shrugs. “Wanna call Balz and the three of us can talk to him?”  
  
“Sure, why not?” he replies, so I go to FaceTime and dial Balz’s number. He picks up after a bit.  
  
“I’m in school, you’re lucky I’m skipping,” I hear Balz speak as I see his face appear on the screen.  
  
Fucking time difference.  
  
“Yeah, me and Ricky-”  
  
“Woah, I finally get to meet Ricky?!” I hear Devin’s voice chirp excitedly as he snatches the phone from Balz, and his face appears instead.  
  
“If he’ll talk to you,” I tell him.  
  
“Who’s Ricky?” I hear Angelo’s voice ask next.  
  
“Is that Chris?” Ryan’s voice then asks.  
  
The whole gang’s there!  
  
“W’sup, Ricky!” Devin cheers.  
  
“Uh…” Ricky mumbles, very shy towards new people. I see Devin frown.  
  
“He’s not talking to me?”  
  
“Start a conversation, dumbass,” Balz suggests, and I roll my eyes. Typical.  
  
“Oh. Well, my name’s Devin, but I like to go by Ghost sometimes, so call me whatever.”  
  
Oops, forgot about that Ghost nickname. He came up with it, like, two days before I moved, don’t get mad!  
  
“My name’s Richard, but I always go by Ricky.”  
  
That’s new. Eh, I didn’t tell him my real name either, so...  
  
“You sure did get lucky,” Devin-  _Ghost_  laughs, and Ricky raises an eyebrow. D- _GHOST_  doesn’t see that because Ricky refuses to show his face to the camera.  
  
“What do you mean?” Ricky asks, realizing what I just thought.  
  
“Usually when people are named Richard, they get a nickname like  _Dick_ ,”  
  
“Dick and Balz,” we hear Ryan mutter, causing everyone else to chuckle, well, not Ricky.  
  
“Please don’t call me ‘Dick’,” Ricky asks awkwardly.  
  
“We’re not gonna call you that,” Ryan tells him, and Ricky nods.  
  
“Ricky, they can’t see you, you know?” I remind him, and Ricky blushes a bit.  
  
“Yeah, show your face! It’d be nice to know what our friend’s face looks like!” Angelo says. Ricky’s face lightens up at the idea of him having new friends. It’s really cute, actually.  
  
Shit, he could eat shit and I’d find it cute.  
  
Right?  
  
Ew, I might be exaggerating a bit there…  
  
Before Ricky can say no, I tilt the screen so I get his face in it too. Ricky’s eyes widen when he notices and ducks to cover his face.  
  
“I saw you! You’re  _so_  cute!” Ghost awes, and I can see Ricky blush.  
  
“I-I’m not!” Ricky protests, shaking his head.  
  
“I see you blushing!”  
  
Ricky tries to cover his face with his arms, and I laugh at him.  
  
“What? You get to see him and we don’t?” Ryan complains.  
  
“Yeah, I was the one who suggested he did!” Angelo adds.  
  
“Quit your bitching, I screenshotted it!” Ghost cheers, earning a whine from my ghost friend.  
  
The one sitting next to me, not the Scranton one.  
  
Haha.  
  
No?  
  
Okay...


	10. Chapter 10

Since today’s day two, I have class with Blue today. I enter the classroom and take my seat next to Blue’s, since she’s not in here quite yet. After a minute or so, she enters quickly, seating herself in her seat. She turns towards me and vice versa.  
  
“Hey, Chris,” she smiles at me.  
  
“Hey,” I smile. “My mom got the money back so I’m not grounded anymore.”  
  
“Awesome! So the get together’s on?” she asks excitedly, and it’s actually pretty adorable how excited she got.  
  
“Sure is! Where and when?” I ask her, and she thinks. Then she shrugs.  
  
“We never decided. How about you pick?”  
  
I think about that. When and where? It’s definitely gonna be this weekend. But where…  
  
Wait, if we have it at my house, and Nick comes, I can get Ricky to come out or simply bring Nick to Ricky, and Nick will _have_  to believe me since he’d be right before his very eyes.  
  
“Hmm, tomorrow at my place? Directly after school?”  
  
She nods, agreeing.  
  
“Sounds fine to me.”  
  
<><><>  
  
Nick wasn’t at lunch because he was in class doing whatever his teacher had him do, so I didn’t get to talk to him until third block. He didn’t look too happy when he saw me.  
  
“Hey, Chris,” he says coldly, refusing to look at me. Ronnie, who was seated in front of us, turns curiously, giving us a what-the-fuck-is-going-on-here look. I give him a he’s-pissed-at-me look, and Ronnie nods, saying that he got the message.  
  
“Nick, I’m sorry about yesterday. But we’ve talked about this during lunch, we’re having a little hang out thing at my house tomorrow right after school. Everyone else agreed, so are you up for it?”  
  
He’s silent for a bit, as if thinking. He sighs and nods his head.  
  
“Do you hate me now?” I ask sadly. I fucking  _hope_  what happened yesterday didn’t end our friendship.  
  
“No, just a little upset.”  
  
“What even happened?” Ronnie asks as curiosity gets to him again.  
  
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, I’ll get over it soon. He’s clearly sorry,” Nick answers him. Ronnie nods, and starts another random conversation.  
  
<><><>  
  
Me, Nick and Blue walked home together again, them both giving me hugs before I enter my home. I kick my shoes and lock the door behind me.  
  
“Ricky! I’m home!” I call, and Ricky skips down the stairs. He crushes me in a hug when he approaches, surprising me. He never really gives me hugs, and he gives really good hugs, by the way.  
  
“Happy to see me?” I ask, and I feel him nod. “So, Nick and some of my other friends are coming over tomorrow with me.”  
  
He looks up at me, not pulling away from the hug.  
  
Not complaining either.  
  
“Who?”  
  
“Johnny, Ronnie, Craig, Blue, Adriana,” I answer.  
  
“I don’t know Blue or Adriana,” Ricky tells me.  
  
“You’ll love them, don’t worry. Wanna talk to Balz later? We gotta wait a bit ‘cause they’re still in school and all,” I suggest, and he nods. He finally pulls away then to wander off into the kitchen. I curiously follow him into the kitchen, where we bump against each other halfway there. He’s holding some sort of package, holding it out to me.  
  
“Is...that mine?” I ask him, and he nods. I take it from him and open it, pulling out its contents.  
  
The CDs he broke are all replaced and in my hands now.  
  
I smile down at Ricky before pulling him into one more quick hug.  
  
“Thanks, Rick, you didn’t have to,” I chuckle, but he shrugs.  
  
“Eh, I used your mom’s money,” Ricky asks. “I didn’t expect them to come this soon.”  
  
“You stole money from my mom just to buy me CDs? You’re awesome, Ricky,” I chuckle again. “Wanna go listen to them?”  
  
He nods excitedly as we rush up the stairs, once again stealing Mom’s laptop so we can play the music.  
  
<><><>  
  
After a few hours of listening to music, I call Balz’s phone for FaceTime. He picks up after a couple rings.  
  
“Hey, guys!” Balz cheers as he sees the two of us from his device, Ricky and I greeting him back.  
  
“Anyone else there or is it just you?” I ask.  
  
“Just me,” he tells me with a shrug. “So anything interesting happening lately?”  
  
“Nothing much, what about you guys over there?”  
  
“Devin’s seeing someone. Started at school today,” Balz smiles, happy for our friend.  
  
“Is it a boy or a girl?”  
  
“A girl. She’s fucking hot, too,” Balz laughs, sounding a bit disappointed too.  
  
Poor guy.


	11. Chapter 11

I might’ve stayed up all night watching movies in my room with Ricky on accident and didn’t realize until the fucking sun came up so I’m pretty fucking tired right now. Like seriously, I don’t think I’m gonna make it the whole day without falling asleep in one of my classes.

“Chris, you sure you’re okay?” Blue asks me once again. I only nod.

“What were you doing all night anyway?” Nick then asks me.

Oh yeah, me and Nick made up when we met at my house. Everything’s back to normal now.

“I was watching movies w-” I start, but stop myself before I can say “ _with Ricky_ ” and start shit all over again. Neither of the two seemed to notice, much to my luck.

“So should we bring anything today?” Nick asks another question, and I just shrug.

“You don’t really have to. I thought you were coming straight to mine, anyway,” I chuckle.

“Oh, yeah!” Nick laughs sheepishly.

“Adriana told me that she asked Lukas if he wanted to come too, but she said that he didn’t wanna go because he would only know me and Adriana, and I’m just like, isn’t that the point of him going? To meet knew people? But she’s like-”

I kinda zone out right there, because I just  _know_  Blue’s gonna go on and on and  _on_  with this until we get to the school and part ways. She’s opened up to the two of us a lot, and she’ll go on and on about stuff when she talks to us. It gets kinda annoying sometimes though, and I can’t help but zone out.

Especially when I’m tired.

<><><>

I’m woken up when someone pats my shoulder. I smell the familiar scent of peppermints, and I immediately know that it’s my sex on legs German teacher Mr. Eisenhauer. Like seriously, why is he a teacher when he could be a fucking model…

“Bist du in Ordnung?1” he asks in german as I struggle to translate. It took a few seconds for me to translate what he said. I know I should reply in german too since I know that that’s what he wants us to do.

“Ja2.”

He smiles at me before returning to the front of the classroom, dropping down into his chair and doing whatever it is that he does on his computer. Johnny pokes my shoulder then.

“Dude, are you sure you don’t wanna just have the thing tomorrow instead so you can get some sleep?” he whispers to me. I nod.

“I’ll just drink some coffee,” I whisper a little too loudly, as the class is taking a test today.

“Nicht reden3!” Mr. Eisenhauer speaks, using a warning tone. I take a second to translate that.

I fucking wish he’d just speak in English, I mean, fuck, I just started taking this language! I pull out a sheet of paper, deciding that we’re gonna do it elementary style and pass notes. I grab a pencil and write my first message to Johnny.

‘ _I’ll be okay, man, I just need some coffee._ ’ I pass it stealthily to Johnny so Mr. Eisenhauer doesn’t see, and he reads it before writing back.

‘ _Okay. We only have five minutes left of class and then we can meet all the others. So who’s that kid you wanted us to meet?_ ’

I sigh. I should just let him see for himself.

‘ _You’ll see when you get there, okay?_ ’

He nods before folding the paper and stuffing it in his bag, that being his way of telling me that he didn’t wanna pass anymore notes and risk getting in trouble. I let my eyes wander up to the clock, watching the red second hand thing tick every second. Around 300 ticks later, the bell rings, telling us all to get the fuck out of there. We happily do so. Johnny follows me out of the classroom. Mr. Eisenhauer dismisses the class, the class returning his farewell kindly.

The two of us eventually make it to the front doors, where we wait for whoevers not out here. It’s a few minutes before everyone’s together, and we’re walking towards my house.

“So, Chris,” Craig starts. “Did you make it?”

“Nope,” I tell him. “I’ll be drinking me some coffee-woffee when we get to my house.”

“Dude, did you just say  _coffee-woffee_?” Ronnie asks, clearly amused by my choice of words. Everyone else laughs at me and I sheepishly do so myself.

“I guess so.”

They make fun of me and my coffee-woffee all the way to my house. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna use that against me until my funeral…

“So, this is your house,” Craig sighs as we all approach.

“Didn’t Ricky live here?” Ronnie asks, receiving a chorus of ‘yeah’.

I put two and two together, and realize that these guys are Ricky’s friends too.

“Who’s Ricky?” Adriana asks curiously as I unlock the door. Johnny explains it to Adriana and Blue, and I hear footsteps running away.

That must’ve been Ricky being shy as fuck again.

When the door’s unlocked, I push it open, letting my friends in. I head straight to the kitchen and quickly make myself some coffee. I lean against the counter and drink it, and Adriana walks in with a smirk.

“How’s that coffee-woffee, Chris?” she asks with a smirk as she crosses her arms. I roll my eyes.

“Fantastic,” I tell her. She creepily watches me finish it before putting the mug in the sink. I then start my search for Ricky, so he can finally see his friends again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:  
> 1\. Are you okay?  
> 2\. Yeah  
> 3\. No talking!
> 
> I basically only put Chris in German class is because of that Du Hast cover Motionless In White did :P


	12. Chapter 12

I then start my search for Ricky, so he can finally see his friends again. He’s most likely gonna either be in my closet or somewhere in my mom’s room. I decide to check my closet first. I head up the stairs, and I hear someone following me. When I get to the top of the stairs, I look over my shoulder and see Blue standing behind me.  
  
“I, uh, decided to follow you, you know, get a tour of the house,” Blue mumbles sheepishly, and I shrug.  
  
“You’re fine, don’t worry.”  
  
I push my bedroom door open, and Blue follows me inside. I make my way to the closet, opening it.  
  
Ricky’s not fucking in there.  
  
I groan as I bend down, checking under the bed. Not there either.  
  
“What are you looking for?” Blue asks, offering help. I only shrug, because saying that I’m looking for someone would be awkward. I mean, I checked my closet and under the bed, wouldn’t you find that weird if you were in her position?  
  
I stand back up and walk into my mom’s room, Blue, of course, following. I hear something moving around, and Blue heads towards the sound before I can. She goes over to my mom’s closet, and pulls the door open.  
  
“Um…” Blue stutters, and I guess she found Ricky. “Chris, there’s a boy in your mom’s closet. She might be hiding something from you.”  
  
“Blue, that was creepy on so many levels,” I chuckle as I gently move her out of the way. I reach a helping hand out to Ricky, but he refuses to take it. “But she’s not. This is Ricky.”  
  
“But Johnny said that he was dead, so…”  
  
“If you put two and two together, you’ll figure it out, okay?” I tell her and she nods understanding as I grab Ricky’s hand anyway, pulling him up and out of the closet.  
  
“Chris, I really don’t wanna go out there,” Ricky begs hastily, giving me a pleading look.  
  
“Ricky, they’re your friends!”  
  
“But Chris, I’ve been  _dead_  for months! I’m a  _ghost_! What if they react badly?” Ricky whines as I pull him to the door, Blue awkwardly following behind us.  
  
“Hey, it’s okay, if they do I’ll talk to them,” I say to him as I manage to pull him down the stairs and into the living room. Everyone was busy having some sort of conversation, but when they see us, all conversation is dropped as they stare at Ricky with wide eyes, completely speechless, Ricky returning their looks.  
  
“Well, I’ll leave you guys to it, then,” I tell them as I go back upstairs, and oddly, Blue follows me up  _again_. I pay her no mind and enter my room again, her following me in.  
  
“It must be great seeing your friends after so long,” Blue says from behind me. I turn to see a small smile on her face, and I smile too.  
  
“I thought it would too, so I just had to bring them here, you know? That’s why I wanted the get together to be here.”  
  
“I don’t really see why he couldn’t just go to them, though,” Blue confusedly states.  
  
“He told me that a ghost couldn’t leave the place they died in,” I tell her, and she nods, understanding.  
  
“How did Ricky die?” Blue asks softly and sadly as she wanders over to a poster in the room. She stares up at one of them, The Smiths. I sigh and shrug, even though she can’t see me shrug.  
  
“I don’t know. I never asked him,” I answer truthfully.  
  
“The Smiths are awesome, by the way,” she changes the topic and turns to face me so she can offer another smile.  
  
“I know,” I return it. Then someone’s knocking at my door before it opens. Adriana creeps in, looking accomplished when she finds Blue.  
  
“C’mere, babe,” Adriana says, and Blue follows her out of the room without another word.  
  
What the fuck did I come in here for?  
  
I shrug to myself, calling myself an idiot for forgetting. I go back downstairs, and the guys are in the same position, except they’re talking now. Adriana and Blue are nowhere to be seen.  
  
“Gee, I wish I could hug you right now,” I hear Craig say, to whom I assume would be Ricky.  
  
“You could,” Ricky says shyly.  
  
 _Gawd, he’s so fucking cute._  
  
“I-I can?”  
  
“Yeah. Just give me a hug, I love hugs. You should know that.”  
  
I watch by the stairs as Craig hesitantly steps up to Ricky, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him closer, Ricky hugging the older boy back. Craig contently sighs and rests his chin on his shoulder, a smile creeping its way onto his face as they start to sway from side to side.  
  
“God, I missed this. I thought you were gonna be cold, you know, since you’re…” Craig mumbles, but I still hear it. Ricky only hums in reply.  
  
This might sound kinda fucked up, but I’m kinda fucking jealous of Craig.  
  
 _Hey, you can have him all to yourself when your friends leave._  
  
“I WANNA HUG RICKY TOO!” Nick whines, then everyone’s arguing over who gets to hug him next.  
  
I hope it’s not like this if I ever go to visit Scranton.


	13. Chapter 13

The guys spent most of their time with Ricky, but that’s understandable, so I didn’t get too mad. I hung out with the girls- after I found them with their tongues down each other’s throats in the laundry room. Let’s just say that I would’ve never found them if they were a little more quiet.  
  
Everyone has already left, leaving me and Ricky alone at home, finally giving us time to ourselves. Ricky seemed very happy, content. It made me really happy, too, seeing him so happy. Like I finally did something right for once.  
  
We’re currently upstairs in my room because my mom should be coming home any minute, and I'm scared of how she'll react to the sight of Ricky. She'd kill me for bringing company to the house without her permission, which I never get anyways. Learned from experience.  
  
As if on cue, I hear the front door open and close. Mom’s home, then.  
  
“Chris!” she calls as I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. I quickly turn to Ricky.  
  
“Get in the closet just in case she comes in,” I rush out in a harsh whisper, and he immediately does as he’s told. A few seconds after he closes the closet door behind him, Mom enters my room and sits on my bed next to me.  
  
“So, how’s school been? I haven’t gotten to talk to you because of my busy schedule,” Mom asks with a smile.  
  
“It’s been cool. I made a handful of new friends,” I answer her, returning the smile.  
  
“That’s great! Anyone catch your eye?”  
  
“Uh, Craig, Nick, and one of my teachers.”  
  
She scoffs and shakes her head, amused.  
  
“You always have some sort of crush on one of your teachers,” she laughs. “So since I listened to you tell me how school was, I’m gonna tell you about all the drama at work.”  
  
<><><>  
  
It’s around midnight when Mom finally leaves me alone and goes to bed. Ricky exits the closet and sits where Mom was seated not too long ago.  
  
“Sorry ‘bout that, Ricks,” I apologize, but he shrugs.  
  
“Don’t worry about it, you barely get to see her so it’s fine.”  
  
“She can be kinda annoying sometimes,” I sigh.  
  
“My mom didn’t pay much attention to me before I died.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Mhm.”  
  
We’re put in an awkward silence after that.  
  
Before I could break that silence, he breaks it instead, when he starts to snore lightly. I look over at him and notice that he’s sleeping. I smile, deciding that it's cute. I manage to get him under the blanket without waking him, locking the door and turning the light off before sliding in next to him.  
  
"Chris?" Ricky asks me, half asleep. I guess I woke him up then (duh)...  
  
"Just go back to sleep," I whisper.  
  
"Okay," he sleepily mutters back as he scoots closer to me so that his back is pressed my torso. I can feel myself blush lightly, but I toss an arm over his waist anyway and bury my nose into his hair. Why would I not, his hair is the best smelling hair I've ever smelled.  
  
Okay, that sounded kinda creepy.  
  
"G'night, Chris," Ricky sighs.  
  
"Night, Ricky," I reply. A few seconds later, he's lightly snoring again. I'm not far behind, either.  
  
<><><>  
  
I'm woken up when Ricky tries to climb over me, kneeing me in the dick in the process, but not with enough force to make it hurt too bad. The situation was just awkward, but he decided to act as if it didn't happen. I knew that he knew what he had done because the sheepish blush on his face gave it away.  
  
"You could've just asked me to move," I tell him as he gets to the floor.  
  
"I didn't wanna wake you," he answers with a shrug.  
  
"Either way, you did," I laugh, pulling myself up into a sitting position. I look at the time. 9:37am.  
  
"Uh, yeah... Sorry 'bout that," Ricky apologizes awkwardly. "So... What ya wanna do today?"  
  
“I’m not sure… You can’t really leave the house or anything, and my mom’s home today,” I tell him with a sigh. He frowns, turning away, mumbling something under his breath. It sounds something along the lines of “I never thought being dead would suck this much”. I don’t say anything about it, though.  
  
Then I get an idea.  
  
“I’ll be right back!”  
  
I jog down into the living room and unplug the Xbox from the wall and the TV, bringing it and it’s controllers and games upstairs into my room, putting it in my room.  
  
“I see you planned on playing video games in here,” Ricky laughs, confusing me.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“You don’t have a TV in here.”  
  
<><><>  
  
After trying to convince Mom to let me bring the TV into my room, she just let me take hers. She even helped me set it up, but thankfully, Ricky heard her coming so he hid in the closet. She went back to doing what she was doing before I burdened her and I lock the door behind her.  
  
Me and Ricky spend the rest of the day playing video games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously a filler ;-;  
> So I'm basically gonna give the same mini speech to my readers of WAAEOWNTFIL, the exact same words...  
> I'm trying to stay away from putting all of my stories on hold 'cause when that happens there's a 50/50 chance of them being discontinued. I'm really fond of my active stories, actually, so hopefully they won't be discontinued :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired as hell so here's a very shitty chapter for you guys. I love you all <3

>>>Time skip: Monday<<<  
  
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I felt like shit. I had a horrible headache, my nose is so stuffed I can barely breathe through it, my throat felt really scratchy, and it was cold as fuck. I knew I’d have to get over it because I had school today. I pulled myself out of bed and got ready at mummy speed. I was about to leave the house but something hastily grabbed my wrist, scaring the shit out of me. I hold back an unmanly yelp as I whirl around to face the culprit, looking down at a concerned Ricky. He handed me a sheet of paper with Mom’s handwriting.  
  
“I found that on the kitchen table,” he told me as I started to read it,  
  
‘ _Chris,  
If you’re still not feeling well, feel free to stay home. I know just how miserable you were last night. If you need any medicine, you know where it is, make sure you read the label so you take the right amount! I’ll check on you when I see you tonight!  
love, Mom xoxo_’  
  
“Well, I guess I’m staying home today,” I speak, my voice sounding nasally and disgusting. I kick my shoes off by the door for the moment and head back upstairs to my room, kicking my jeans off so I’d be more comfortable. I send my friends a quick text telling them that I was sick so I wouldn’t be able to go to school today. I close my eyes and get comfortable, just before I feel the bed dip down and something snuggle into my chest. I open my eyes and look down to see Ricky.  
  
“Hey, Ricks, I don’t want you getting sick,” I tell him, once again hating how my voice sounds.  
  
“I can’t get sick, Chris,” he mumbles as he lets himself get comfortable. I smile and wrap my arms around him, holding him.  
  
“So you’re gonna keep me company today?”  
  
“Until your mom gets home, yeah.”  
  
We lay there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until he speaks up.  
  
“Uh, Chris?” he mutters, and from the corner of my eye, I see him tilt his head up to look up towards me. I tilt my head down so we make eye contact, and I also notice a small blush on his cheeks.  
  
“Yeah, Ricky?” I reply curiously. He opens his mouth to speak, but quickly closes it again. He blushes harder just before he looks away.  
  
“Nevermind, forget I said anything,” he tells me. I frown disappointedly. I’m not gonna push him to tell anything because I’d hate it if someone tried to do the same to me. But I also hate it when people get ready to tell you something but chicken out last minute. That gets really annoying too. I’m really want to know what he was gonna say, though, and it sucks knowing that I probably won’t ever know what he was gonna say.  
  
He looks back up to me, “Chris? What’s wrong?”  
  
I shake my head, “Nothing, I’m fine.”  
  
“Liar. What’s up?”  
  
I sigh. “You left me hanging, man. That’s not cool.”  
  
It’s his turn to sigh now.  
  
“I…” he starts quietly, tucking his head into my neck as he looks away sheepishly, blushing again.  
  
“You..?” I encourage him to go on.  
  
“Chris, I think I, uh...ya know…”  
  
“No, I don’t know. I want you to tell me so I do know.” I had a feeling I knew what he was gonna say, but I wanna hear it from him, just in case my feelings are wrong. To be honest, I think I’ll die if he says what I think he says.  
  
He sighs into my neck, the small puff of air tickling my neck slightly.  
  
“I really, really, really,  _really, REALLY_ -” Ricky says, obviously stalling, but I cut him off.  
  
“Just rip the bandage off, Ricky, get it over and done with,” I tell him seriously, but I doubt anyone would take me serious with a voice like this.  
  
But Ricky did, so I guess people would.  
  
“You know what, you’re right. Well, I like you, Chris, like, a lot. There, happy now? Now I’m gonna go in the closet and die-  _again_ ,” Ricky confesses sassily as he rolls over in my arms and tries to pull out of them, but I tighten my grip on him. While that happens, butterflies brutally flutter around my stomach and I can feel myself blushing myself.  
  
“Yes, I am happy now, and you’re not going anywhere.”  
  
We’re both quiet for a while, until I speak up.  
  
“I like you too, Ricky.”


	15. Chapter 15

When I wake up from a nap I took, I find Ricky still in my arms. I hear tiny little snores escaping his lips, and I smile, holding my boyfriend close.  
  
 _My boyfriend._  
  
Wow. I just can’t believe I can call Ricky my boyfriend now. It’s… _different_ , but not in a bad way.  
  
I reach for my phone carefully, grabbing it off the end table, successfully not waking up Ricky. It’s six o’clock. I haven’t really talked to the guys in a while… I should tell them the news, since we always tell each other everything.  
  
I click on the Face Time app and call Balz. He picks up after a little bit, the screen showing me his happy face- the one that says ‘I-just-ate-some-fucking-chicken-wings-bitch!’  
  
“Hey, Chris! What’s up?” he cheers happily. I hold a finger up to my lips before tilting the camera down towards Ricky’s sleeping figure in my arms before tilting it back up towards me, telling him to shut the fuck up and don’t wake Ricky.  
  
“I’m good, by the way,” I tell him, my voice still sounding nasty, just not as bad as earlier. He furrows his brows together.  
  
“You sick or something?” he asks sympathetically, I nod.  
  
“I’m okay though. Ricky stayed with me all day,” I tell him with a smile at the mention of the name. I hear a giggle from the screen, one that was definately  _not_  from Balz. I recognized that giggle though...  
  
“Awe, I see Chris blushing!”  
  
It’s Ghosts’s voice I hear. I swear, Ghost is  _always_  with that kid.  
  
“Awe, he is! Chris likes  _Ricky_! Chris likes  _Ricky_!” Balz sings, Ghost joining in after a second. I let them sing it a couple more times and have their fun before rolling my eyes and speaking up.  
  
“Of course I like Ricky, he’s my boyfriend,” I speak up, instantly shutting them up. I see Balz stare at me for a second before glancing to his right, assumingly at Ghost, before smiling back at me. I can tell that he has excitement boiling up in him, and I prepare for what is to come right next...  
  
“HOLY SHIT CHRIS HAS A BOYFRIEND! WE’RE TELLING ANGELO AND RYAN!” Balz cheers enthusiastically, hanging up before I can scold him for yelling, even though I just told him not to wake Ricky.  
  
“Whaa?” Ricky yawns sleepily. I feel him stretch in my arms, shifting so that his head is resting on my chest, staring at my phone to figure out what the commotion was about.  
  
“Balz and Ghost being idiots,” I tell him, toying around with my phone.  
  
“I missed them?” he asks me, sounding slightly disappointed. He must really like talking to them, huh? I knew they’d get along well. I smile and nod at him.  
  
“I’m afraid you did, babe, maybe next time” I tell him, the pet name making him blush furiously. He shyly hides his face in my chest and I chuckle at him.  
  
“Not funny,” Ricky mumbles into my chest. “What time is it?”  
  
“A bit after six, why?”  
  
“Your mom gets home in, what, maybe four or so hours?”  
  
“Oh, true, true.”  
  
He giggles a bit and closes his eyes again, snuggling up to me as much as he could. Within seconds, he’s asleep again. He’s only woken up again when my phone goes off loudly, alerting me of a text. It’s from Angelo, of course. Ricky and I read it together.  
  
 **Angelo: Cerulli finally finds his significant other...**  
  
I have to roll my eyes at that.  
  
 **me: Aw shit, really? I never knew.**  
  
 **Angelo: The sarcasm wasn’t necessary lol**  
  
 **me: You were asking for it!**  
  
 **Angelo: So, who’s your new boyfriend then?**  
  
 **me: They didn’t tell you?**  
  
 **Angelo: They did, I’m just asking you again because it feels good to type**  
  
 **me: Oh. I don’t have to tell you then :)**  
  
 **Angelo: No pls tell meh!!**  
  
 **me: Remember Ricky?**  
  
 **Angelo: Woah, you’re dating Ricky?**  
  
 **me: Yeah**  
  
 **Angelo: Cool man. I gotta go. Bye :)**  
  
“That was kinda awkward,” Ricky tells me as I turn my phone off, reaching to put it back on my night stand.  
  
“I basically grew up with the guy, I'm used to his awkwardness," I giggle. My giggle makes Ricky do the same.  
  
"You're so cute," Ricky tells me, looking up at me with nothing but adoration. I imagine myself looking back to him with the same look.  
  
"Maybe, but nowhere near as much as you."  
  
"what is this, a sappy romantic comedy?"  
  
"It can be whatever you want it to be."  
  
"Shut up," he laughs playfully, closing his eyes again. I only assume he's trying to escape to dreamland again.


	16. Chapter 16

I didn’t start feeling better until Wednesday, but Mom had me stay home anyway just in case that day. When I went the whole day feeling fine, I was okay to go to school the next day, which is today.  
  
I made sure I sent Blue and Nick a text so I wouldn’t have to walk home all alone today before starting off my morning routine for school. When I was ready, I went downstairs and caught Ricky on Mom’s computer, typing away. I move to sit next to him and look at what he’s typing, but as soon as I’m seated, he hastily closes the tab. I raise an eyebrow.  
  
“What the fuck? Were you writing smut or something?” I ask him as I avert my gaze to him. He reddens as his eyes widens.  
  
“N-no, I just don’t like people reading my stories. Well, at least when they’re not done yet,” he defends himself.  
  
“Or, you don’t like people reading your kinky smuts, hm?” I tease him a bit more, laughing as he whines and buries his face in his hands.  
  
“ _Nooo_ , I wasn’t writing that! I swear!” Ricky desperately whines.  
  
“God, you’re so fucking cute,” I laugh again as I stand. “I believe you, I was just teasing.”  
  
I grab my bag, which was conveniently by the door, before walking out, not without a goodbye to Ricky, of course. I see Blue and Nick waiting for me at the sidewalk and I head over to them. They greet me when I approach them.  
  
“Hey, guys! What did I miss?” I ask as we start heading towards the school together.  
  
“Johnny got suspended, Craig has detention for the rest of this week and next week too,” Nick fills me in on what’s been going on while I missed school three days straight.  
  
“Seriously? What did they do?” I ask.  
  
“Johnny got in a fight, don’t know who or why, and Craig didn’t do anything. Someone lied on him.”  
  
“What the fuck? What did they say?”  
  
“We don’t know, I don’t even think Craig knows.”  
  
I shakes his head disbelievingly. Whoever snitched must have made up some intense lie to get Craig detention for so long.  
  
<><><>  
  
Blue and I sit at our usual seats when we get to class that morning. She's been quiet all morning, which is kinda unsettling. We all know she's quiet, but not  _that_  quiet. I wanted to wait until we were alone before asking her about it, which we are now.  
  
"Hey, Blue? You alright?" I ask, catching her off guard. She looks up to me and smiles a bit, but there's something off about it.  
  
"Yeah. I'm fine, why?" she answers.  
  
"You sure? You're not acting like yourself this morning," I say, and she sighs, but before she can say anything, students start to come in, wanting to be in before the bell rings too. Mrs. Cockson follows in after, staring her lesson once class starts. Blue turns to face the front so I do the same, focusing on whatever bullshit she’s talking about.  
  
Class finally ends after what feels like hours, and Blue is quick to gather up all her things and dash out of the classroom. I sigh as I watch her go. Something’s definitely bothering her. I gather my things and head to my next class, which I have no friends in. I groan, dreading sitting through the next class all alone.  
  
<><><>  
  
“Hey guys,” I greet Craig and Ronnie as I sit at the lunch table. “Y’all know what’s up with Blue?”  
  
“No, we were gonna ask you but you beat us to it,” Craig answers.  
  
“You were gonna ask Chris,  _I_  was gonna ask Adriana,” Ronnie corrects his friend, causing Craig to roll his eyes.  
  
“Does it matter? No, it doesn’t,” Craig tells him playfully as Nick sits. He raises an eyebrow as he does.  
  
“Am I missing something here?” he asks.  
  
“Nah. We were wondering what’s been up with Blue today,” I say. Nick’s face falls as he sighs.  
  
“Yeah, something happened between her and Adriana,” he says as he picks at his lunch, which actually looked pretty damn good. I steal Craig’s fork off his tray and steal some of Nick’s pasta as I ask what happened. Nick playfully glares at me.  
  
“It’s not my place to say,” he tells me. “And don’t steal my food, you ass muncher!”  
  
I choke on the pasta as I laugh, Ronnie slamming his hand on my back as an attempt to help. Everyone else laughs at me as Blue sits on the other side of me, Adriana sitting on the other side of Ronnie, away from Blue. We’re engulfed by an awkward tension then. No one says anything. We’re too scared to. But then Craig clears his throat bravely and turns to me,  
  
“So, how’s Ricky doing?”  
  
“Probably at home writing porn.”  
  
“ _What?_ ” Craig laughs with the rest of the boys, while the girls remained unresponsive. “Innocent little Ricky?”  
  
I laugh at them. “No, I was joking. He’s fine.”  
  
“You should let us over again this weekend so we can see him!”  
  
“Uh, maybe,” I answer. “I think my mom’s taking work off this weekend.”  
  
“Today’s Thursday, so you’ll text us tonight or something?” Ronnie asks.  
  
“Yeah,” I reply just before the bell rings. We all get up and head to our next and final class, me having mine with Adriana. We walk there together in silence like usual, but this time, it’s awkward rather than pleasant like usual.  
  
As soon as we both sit down, I ask her if she and Blue are okay. She sighs and pulls out her phone, not wanting to get in trouble for talking (even though she’d get in more trouble for having her phone out). She taps something in and I almost immediately, my phone goes off. It doesn’t take a genius to know that it’s from Adriana.  
  
**Adriana: She broke up with me..**  
  
**me: Oh. What happened?**  
  
**Adriana: She accused me of cheating**  
  
**me: You didn’t, did you?**  
  
**Adriana: Of course I didn’t :(**  
  
**me: Oh. What made her think you did?**  
  
**Adriana: She caught me texting my sister. Her contact has a heart next to her name**  
  
**me: Did you tell her that she’s your sister?**  
  
**Adriana: Yeah but she didn’t believe me since she’s never met her. she’s all the way in Europe**  
  
**me: That sucks :( I really don’t know what to say, I’ve never been in this sort of situation**  
  
**Adriana: I appreciate it I guess. We should put our phones away before we get them taken away**  
  
Before I can do so, the teacher has our phones in the drawer of her desk until she decides to give them back like the bitch she is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit guys it's been 2 months and it's not even a good chapter :(  
> I'm such an asshole :(  
> I love you guys so much <3


	17. Chapter 17

After calling my mom at work and asking her if she could get my phone from the school whenever she could, I leave the building and walk alone. Blue and Nick both went off without me since I was staying behind to call my mom. I told them they could so I shouldn’t be slightly disappointed like I am.  
  
When I walk in my house, I head upstairs to look for Ricky. I find him lounging on my bed on his tummy while scrolling through what looked like Tumblr. I kick my shoes off by my door and move to sit next to Ricky.  
  
“Hey, shorty,” I greet him playfully.  
  
“Hey, lanky,” is his reply as he closes his tab before he shuts the laptop and rolls onto his back to look up at me with a small smile.  
  
“How’s your kinky smut going along?”  
  
He rolls his eyes and giggles at me.  
  
“It’s not kinky smut. I don’t know how to write that kind of stuff,” he defends and I lay next to him.  
  
“It’s easy,” I tell him.  
  
“You write smut?”  
  
“No, it just sounds like it’d be easy.”  
  
“It’s really not, it’s hard.”  
  
“So you’ve tried?”  
  
“Shut up,” he mutters as his cheeks tint pink.  
  
“You’re so cute,” I giggle as I poke his cheek.  
  
“I’m not cute, I’m metal a-f,” he states as he rolls his eyes.  
  
I raise an eyebrows, “A-f?”  
  
“As fuck.”  
  
“Oh, that makes sense,” I tell him. “Wanna play Minecraft?”  
  
“I don’t know how to play it.”  
  
“I’ll show you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shit and short as fuck (not even three hundred words wtf) but something's happening with my family and it's really bringing me down but I felt that I owed you guys at least something. I'll try to get another chapter up soon for you guys. I love you all so much, thank you guys for being patient <3


	18. Chapter 18

>>>Time Skip: Monday, right after school<<<  
  
I wave bye to my friends as I enter my home and lock the door. I find Mom waiting for me on the couch. She stands when I enter and I wonder what I did wrong  _this_  time, but she just simply hands me the phone I got taken away on Thursday. I take it from her with a thanks before heading up to my room as she heads to the kitchen.  
  
I’m surprised to find that Ricky isn’t in my room. I check my closet too, he’s not in there either. I doubt he’s in my mom’s room since she’s here, but I check in there anyways. Just as I assumed, he’s not in there either.  
  
I start to believe that he lied about ghosts being stuck in the location of their death, until I peek in the laundry room and find him laying across the top of the running machines. I let out a chuckle at the cute sight, he averts sad eyes in my direction. My face falls.  
  
“Babe, what’s wrong?” I ask him as I close and lock the laundry room door before moving closer.  
  
“When I was still alive, I thought I wanted to die. Now that I’m dead, I’d do  _anything_  to be alive again. But it’s too late now, my heart will never beat again, no matter how much I want it to.”  
  
“Awe, Ricky,” I hold my arms open to him, and he sits up, allowing me to comfortingly wrap my arms around him. He wraps his smaller arms around me too, and we just hold each other for a few moments.  
  
“Ricky, can I ask you something?”  
  
He hesitates a bit before he nods.  
  
“How… How did you die?”  
  
He doesn’t say anything, and I start to worry that I asked a bad question, but then he starts to talk.  
  
“I was home alone one day, my family were out doing… I don’t remember, I think my sister had some sort of late night recital or something. I was hanging out with friends when they had to be there so I couldn’t go. When I got home, they still weren’t there.  
  
I remember texting my mom and asking when they would be home, and she said in a few hours, they were going to some sort of event afterwards. I went upstairs and tried to sleep, but I could never sleep very well when I was alive. I think around midnight, I heard the door open so I went to say hello to my family and ask about the recital since I missed it.  
  
It wasn’t my family at the door. It was some guy. I asked him why the fuck he was in my house and threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave. He, uh… He panicked and strangled me to death.  
  
I have the bruises on my neck… I don’t like looking at them, so I covered them with your mom’s makeup.”  
  
“Oh… Ricky… That’s terrible…”  
  
“My death or stealing your mom’s makeup?”  
  
I roll my eyes at my boyfriend. You can always count on him to make a joke after discussing something like this.  
  
“I don’t care about my mom’s makeup, baby. Do you know what happened after you died?”  
  
“Right after? No. My body wasn’t found for a few days after I died. That’s when my memories start again.”  
  
“What’s your first memory from being dead?”  
  
“I was laying on the floor, where I died. This house was mostly empty, so I figured my family had left.”  
  
Ricky pulls away and moves to jump down from the washing machine, and I move out of the way so he can do so.  
  
“I know what’ll make you feel better. Let’s talk to the guys!”  
  
That brings a smile to Ricky’s face, making me smile too.  
  
“We gotta be careful, I think my mom’s in the kitchen.”  
  
And with that, I grab his hand and carefully lead him up to my room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey... So, I think this story might end soon, I'm not too sure. I already know how it's gonna end though. But yeah, I love you guys so much, and sorry for taking so long to update :( <3


	19. Chapter 19

We give up on contacting the guys after five minutes of them not picking up. Ricky sighs disappointedly.

"So, I guess we can play the Xbox?" he suggests, and I sigh.

"Batteries are dead, remember?" Ricky groans at that. I sigh as I move to lie down, motioning for him to come over. He snuggles up next to me and I pull him closer.

"Entertain me?" he asks. I almost don't hear his muffled request.

"I can tell you terrible ghost jokes that I found online?"

"Awe, why do they have to be ghost jokes? I take much offense," he looks up to me with a pout, mocking offense. I chuckle at him as I start to lean in, him moving to meet me halfway.

But we're stopped when I hear my phone go off. It's too cliché for me to be okay with it, so I answer the FaceTime call and glare at the boy that smiles apologetically on the screen.

"You fuckbag," I snap at Balz, who bursts into laughter at my comment. I watch unamused as he laughs his little ass off, so hard that he can't even audibly laugh. Ricky looks at the screen, concerned. I pity Ricky and myself for having to call this kid our friend.

He starts talking when he finally calms down enough, "That one's new!"

"And not funny," Ricky adds for him, making him laugh harder.

"Wanna just hang up?"

"Yeah."

Balz holds up a finger to stop us when words fail to be recognizable, but I hang up anyways. I put my phone back in it's place on the nightstand with a huff. Ricky giggles at me and I smile.

"So how 'bout those ghost jokes, then?"

"Okay, Chris. Go ahead."

"What did the little boy ghost have in his rock collection?" Ricky takes a moment to contemplate the answer, shaking his head when he gives up.

"Tombstones!"

"That joke was lame."

"Don't worry, this one will make up for it!"

"Okay, let's hear it."

"What did the mommy ghost say to the kid ghost when they got in the car?"

"Uh... I don't know."

"Boockle up your sheetbelt!"

Ricky stares up at me, unamused and confused.

"I don't get it."

"Ghosts go 'boo' and if you put a sheet over your head, you're pretending to be a ghost?"

He still looks confused.

"Boockle your sheetbelt? Buckle your seatbelt?"

"That one was so dumb I'm embarrassed I even heard it."

"That's mean. You're a jerk. No more cuddles for Ricky," I mock offense as I unwrap my arms from around him and turn my back to him. He whines and drapes his arm over my waist, spooning me from behind.

"I'm sorry, babe. Tell me more jokes."

I smile to myself as I try to remember another one I read, suppressing a giggle when I think of one, "what did Chris the ghost say to Ricky the ghost?"

"What did he say?"

"You're very boo-tiful."

"I'm flattered, but you tell the worst jokes ever."

"And you're the worst big spoon ever."

He moves his arm away, "fine, be my big spoon then. I'm taking a nap."

I smile and turn to cuddle him again, reaching for my phone to entertain myself while he sleeps. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my readers on Wattpad pointed out that they haven't kissed yet... Oops.   
> I'm stalling a bit so I interrupted them :( I hate writing kissing scenes as much as I hate writing smut. why do I even write fan fiction if this is the case I'm such a disgrace, lol :D Sorry if this is bad, I wrote it all in one go on a dying iPad. I like it though so hopefully you guys will too :)   
> You guys all make me happy, thank you guys so much for being here. I love you all so much :)


	20. Chapter 20

“Chris! Help me unpack the groceries, please!” I hear my mom shout from downstairs.

  
“Okay, coming!” I holler back, pushing pause on the video game me and Ricky were just playing. Ricky groans to himself as I get up and head to the kitchen where my mom was working on getting a few soup cans in the pantry.

  
“Thank you, Chris,” she smiles as she tosses the now empty bag off to the side. I hum my response as I grab the nearest bag and putting its contents where they belong.

  
“Dang it, I forgot to buy milk,” Mom sighs as we finish the last of the bags, but finding milk in none.

  
“Sounds like you, Mom,” I mumble as I roll my eyes playfully. She sees and mocks hurt.

  
“You know what? Go to the store and buy us some milk.”

  
Before I can protest, she’s shoving the car keys in my hand in shooing me towards the front door. She walks off with a playful smirk, leaving me alone in the foyer to pull on some shoes. I look down at what I’m currently wearing: an old fading band tee and sweat pants, and I don’t even have my eyebrows drawn on. Oh well, it’s just Walmart anyways.

  
<><><>

  
Thankfully enough, no one shoots me a second glance when I walk into Walmart practically in my pajamas. Hopefully I won’t run into anyone I know from school…

  
I shrug it off as I quickly make my way to the dairy section of the store, scanning the shelves for the milk we usually buy. I grab a couple containers of milk and turn back, only to meet face to face with Blue.

  
“Oh, hey,” I greet with a smile.

  
“Hey. You look great.”

  
“Suck my ass. My mom didn’t give me a chance to get dressed before she sent me to get milk.”

  
“Hmm. Well anyways, wanna help me shop for groceries?”

  
“Yeah, okay,” I agree as I follow her to her cart, putting my milk in it when we get there.

  
“So, how’s life treating ya?” Blue asks, pushing her cart away from the dairy section.

  
“Good, I guess.”

  
“That’s good.”

  
“Mhm. What about you, though?”

  
She shrugs, stopping to grab a few bags of chips and toss them into the cart. “I broke up with Adriana the other day.”

  
“I heard.”

  
“You did?” she asks, tossing a pack of cheese to her cart.

  
“Yeah, Adriana told me,” I tell her awkwardly, shoving my hands in the pockets of my sweatpants.

  
“Did she tell you why?” she asks me as she starts to push the cart away from the dairy section.

  
“She said you thought she cheated on you.”

  
“She did.”

  
“She said it was her sister-”

  
“She told me she didn’t have a sister when we first met.”

  
“ _Oh_.”

  
“ _Yeah_.”

  
We continue the shopping trip in an awkward silence after that, neither of us not knowing what to say. When she decides that she’s finished, we make our way to the line. I grab my milk and pay for it before wishing Blue a good evening and leaving.

  
<><><>

  
The warning bell goes off and I quickly rush to my last class of the day. I push through the students swarming the hallway, insults being thrown my way by certain people when I bumped into them. I miraculously make it into the classroom just as the bell rings. I greet Adriana as I take my usual seat next to hers.

  
“Hey, why weren’t you at lunch today?” she asks me.

  
“Had to finish a test. Can I talk to you about something?”

  
She nods, giving me her undivided attention. “What’s up?”

  
“I, uh… talked to Blue yesterday evening…”

  
“And..?”

  
I have a feeling that I shouldn’t have this conversation with Adriana right now, or ever, really, but that doesn’t stop me from doing so.

  
“She told me that you lied about her sister…”

  
“And you believe her?”

  
I shrug, looking away when she starts to look hurt, betrayed, and pissed.

  
“Are you seriously accusing me of cheating too?!” she snaps, her voice rising a bit. A few curious classmates turn their attention to us, but that doesn’t phase her as she continues anyways. “You were supposed to be my best fucking friend! What did she even say to make you side with her?!”

  
“She said that you told her that you didn’t have a sister.”

  
“How do you know she’s not just saying that?!” she retorts, tears starting to brim my eyes now.

  
“To be honest, you’ve never really mentioned anything about having a sister before you guys broke up…”

  
“I swear to God I’m not cheating!!” she shouts at me before shaking her head and standing. “You know what, I’m not wasting my breath anymore. Fuck you, Chris.”

  
And with that, she gathers her things and moves to a different seat far away from mine, leaving me to let this sink in.

  
I just lost one of my best friends...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o.o  
> so my awesome best friend helped me get an idea for this chapter, and the next one too!!  
> and one of my readers on wattpad offered to help with a kiss scene since i absolutely suck at those :D  
> but yay i love you guys <3


	21. Chapter 21

>>>guys this chapter is in ricky’s pov<<<

  
I’m in the middle of rereading my newest story and checking for errors when Chris storms in the house, slamming the door behind him. I watch worriedly as he kicks his shoes off and throws his book bag somewhere before stomping upstairs. I frown as I hear another door slam upstairs, most likely Chris’ bedroom door. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chris so upset before and it kinda scares me, but I log out of my drive anyways and head upstairs to make sure he’s okay.

  
I knock on the door when I approach before calling out. “Are you okay?”

  
“Sure,” he spits out from the room, so I know he’s definitely not okay right now.

  
“Do you want to talk about it?”

  
“No, I don’t wanna be bothered right now.”

  
“What about a hug?”

  
“Just  _fuck off_ , Richard,” Chris snaps, raising his voice. I flinch at the harshness of his words and back off a little, feeling tears welling up in my eyes. I’m such a fucking  _baby…_

  
“O-Okay, sorry,” I choke out before turning away from the door, running into the next available room: Chris’ mom’s room. I run into the closet and close myself in it, allowing the tears to fall in the dark.

  
Why do I have to be so fucking sensitive? It’s so fucking pathetic…

  
After a few minutes of crying to myself in the closet alone, the door cracks open, revealing a guilty and remorseful Chris Cerulli. I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie and turn away from him.

  
“Ricky, I’m sorry, love,” he begs gently, and I can’t help but blush at the little pet name. “I’m just really upset right now. I can talk to you about it if you want, and you can give me a hug too. I love your hugs.”

  
“I-I don’t want a hug anymore,” I lie quietly.

  
“Yes you do,” Chris teases playfully, grabbing my hand and helping me out of the closet. “Hug?”

  
“Hug,” I say as I give him a hug, which he gladly returns with a content sigh.

  
“Do you forgive me?” he asks me.

  
“Yeah,” I answer, looking up to him with a shy smile, which he happily returns. My gaze drops down to his smiling pierced lips.

  
I wonder how they would feel against my own…

  
I bite my lip as I meet his gaze again. Chris raises a perfectly drawn brow at me before I look back to his lips, and without a second thought, I lean in and find out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a friend of mine came up with the plot of this chapter for me since i was struggling so badly :^)


	22. Chapter 22

>>>we’re back in chris’ pov now, guys<<<

  
“ _Holy shit_ ” is the only thought that comes to mind as Ricky’s soft, yet slightly chapped lips, press to mine, but before I can really react and get into the kiss, the bedroom door creaks open.

  
“ _Woah!!_ ” I hear Mom’s surprised exclamation come from the direction of the door and Ricky’s lips are gone as fast as they came as he jumps back in terror, scurrying back into the closet and leaving me to stand alone, gawking at my mother, petrified myself. She just walked in on me kissing a fucking ghost boy...

  
“You never told me you had a boyfriend??” she finally asks me, appearing to be more shocked than anything. I can only hesitantly shrug, though.

  
Maybe she doesn’t know he’s dead..? That makes sense, because really, he still looks pretty human to me…

  
I, Christopher Thomas Cerulli, am a motherfucking idiot.

  
“Bring him out of the closet!” she commands me, a smile brightening her features and her tone more positive than before. I smile and let out a relieved sigh as I turn to the closet, motioning for Ricky to step out again. He hesitates before complying, latching himself onto my arm and keeping his gaze on his feet.

  
“Uh, he’s kinda shy,” I say to Mom, who only coos in awe at him.

  
Why does she have to react this way? It’s embarrassing…

  
“Awe, he’s so sweet! Come give me a hug!”

  
Ricky looks up to me shyly and questioningly, and I smile apologetically at him as I nudge him forward. He drags his feet over to my weirdo mother, who pulls him into her embrace.

  
“It’s so nice to meet you! Are you staying for dinner?”

  
Good, so she has no idea that he’s been dead for months. Who knows how she’d react to that.

  
“Uh, yeah?” he squeaks out, and I giggle at him as he blushes.

  
“I’ll leave the two of you to chat,” I say as I start heading out of the room, smiling apologetically again when Ricky shoots me a pleading look. Poor babe.


	23. Chapter 23

I leave Ricky and my mom to talk for what’s probably a couple hours or so until Ricky enters my room again, plopping himself down on my bed next to me.

  
“How was my mom?” I ask, raising a brow at him when he laughs at me. “Why are you laughing at me?”

  
“You kinda made it sound as if you were asking me about a fuck,” he explains. I widen my eyes in disbelief, but I can’t help the laugh that builds up myself.  
  


“So you write kinky smut about you and my mom, huh?” I tease him again, laughing harder when he goes red and defends himself again.  
  


“Chris, I know nothing about how sex works, and I’m gay anyways!”  
  


“I’m just teasing you, babe.”  
  


“I know…” Ricky trails off, as if he’s wanting to bring something up but isn’t sure he should. I lazily toss an arm around his shoulders and pull him into an awkward, but hopefully comforting side hug. He sighs a little before continuing, “Is it okay to ask what was wrong earlier when you came home?”  
  


“You technically just did.”  
  


“Okay, then. Mind telling?”  
  


“Have I told you about how Adriana and Blue broke up because Blue thought Adriana was cheating on her because she was texting another girl with a heart in her contact?”  
  


“Uh… I think so,” Ricky says with a nod, curious eyes set on mine to show that I has his full attention.  
  


“And how Adriana defended herself saying that she was texting her sister, who lives all the way in Europe?”  
  


“She actually does, though,” Ricky says, his eyes widening as mine do as well.  
  


“Seriously? How do you know?”  
  


“Lea Copeland? She’s like seven years older than her, I think… Yeah. She was my babysitter for two or three years, then she went to school in like, France or something…”  
  


“Wow.”  
  


“Yeah…”  
  


“So Adriana was telling the truth the whole time, then.”  
  


“I guess so,” Ricky sighs sympathetically.  
  


“I’ll try to talk to them tomorrow,” I tell Ricky, and he nods with a smile.  
  


“Okay. I’m gonna go eat food,” Ricky announces as he shrugs my arm off his shoulder and starts heading to the door.  
  


“Do ghosts even need food?”  
  


“No, not really.”  
  


“If you don’t need food, then how come you need sleep?”  
  


“I don’t need sleep.”  
  


“Then how come you get tired?”  
  


“The same reason I get hungry.”  
  


“But you said you don’t need food?”  
  


“If I don’t get food, I’ll still be okay because I’m a ghost, and ghosts are already dead.”  
  


“You must’ve had a miserable three months then.”  
  


“No, I ate from the fruit tree in the back yard.”  
  


“We have a fruit tree?”  
  


“Wow, and you’ve been living here for how long?” Ricky teases. I roll my eyes playfully and wave him off, and he disappears off to the kitchen while I think of how to get Adriana and Blue together so we can talk. And, how I can even talk to Adriana, who I’m pretty sure hates me at the moment. Maybe I can get one of the guys to help me out or something…


	24. Chapter 24

“Hey, guys!” I greet Blue and Nick as I approach the two of them. They smile and wave at me before we walk to school together.

  
When we get there, Blue disappears off to the cafeteria because she said she was hungry, leaving me and Nick alone, giving me the opportunity to speak to Nick.  
  


“So, it turns out that Adriana actually _does_ have a sister in Europe,” I tell him, who furrows his brows at me.  
  


“How do you know?” Nick asks a bit accusingly, but I know he means well.  
  


“Ricky told me. She was his babysitter years ago,” I tell him.  
  


“And you and Craig thought she cheated… Damn.”  
  


“Craig only said that because he likes Blue,” I roll my eyes at him. “And you thought she did too so don’t even start.”  
  


“Yeah but I didn’t tell her that,” Nick smirks playfully.  
  


“Okay. So Adriana kinda hates me so I need you to help me get Adriana in the same room as me and Blue so we can talk about this and live happily ever after.”  
  


“No one lives happily ever after.”  
  


“Shut up. Can you help me though?”  
  


“Why can’t you just talk to them at lunch?”  
  


“Because there’s so many people around and I don’t want all those people knowing their business.”  
  


“That makes sense then,” Nick nods. “I can invite them both over to my place, but not tell them that the other is gonna be there. Or you.”  
  


“How cliché,” I tease him, who playfully punches me in the arm.  
  


“Shut up, at least it’ll work,” Nick says before heading to his class before I can reply. I shrug and head the opposite direction to my own class.  
  


<><><>  
  


The second I walk through the door to my home about seven hours later, my phone goes off. I fish it out of my bag to find a text from Nick.  
  


**Nick: I told Blue and Adriana that they need to come over so we can talk about something important so you should probably come over now.**   
  


“I’m going out!” I call out to my mother, who I know has work off today.  
  


“Okay, sweetie!” she calls back from the kitchen.  
  


And with that, I toss my book bag onto the couch before heading out of the house again. At least Nick is close, right?  
  


When I get to the house, Nick invites me in and guides me to the living room, where both Blue and Adriana were already sat, looking uninterested and a bit pissed about being in each other’s company. There’s also some other kid seated on the stairs, playing some sort of game on his phone, not really paying any mind to anyone. They both glance up at me when I enter and Adriana groans aloud.  
  


“Great, so he’s here too? Fucking fantastic, today’s a great day,” Adriana spits out sarcastically, and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t feel like someone thrusted a knife into my chest.  
  


“No one asked for your attitude,” Blue mutters under her breath. Adriana didn’t hear her and continued to glare at the wall.  
  


“We’re gathered here today to talk about this unfortunate and easily avoidable predicament,” Nick formally starts, plopping down on the couch opposite of the girls with his legs crossed and hands intertwined in his lap, a serious look on his face. I can’t help but roll my eyes as I drop down next to my friend.  
  


“So, Miss Copeland,” Nick continues, gesturing to Adriana. “How are you feeling about this situation?”  
  


“I want to go home,” she snaps, glaring at Nick now instead of the wall.  
  


“Ah, yes, I see. You may go home when this conflict is solved. What’s your side of the story?”  
  


Adriana says nothing for a moment, but eventually decides to go along with this. “Blue thinks I cheated on her.”  
  


“Oh, I see.” I have to bite my lip now to hold back a laugh as Nick continues to pretend to be a professional. He really sucks at it and it’s kinda pathetic. “And what made her come to that conclusion?”  
  


“She caught me texting my sister, who has a heart next to her contact.”  
  


“Ah. Why does she have a heart in her contact?”  
  


“All of my family have hearts,” Adriana says, grabbing her phone and handing it to Nick. He unlocks it and goes straight to her contacts and scrolls through it. He calls them out to Blue as he does so. He calls out about eight contacts, two of them being her parents and one of them being Blue.  
  


“I bet Blue thinks I’m cheating on her with five other people now,” Adriana laughs bitterly.  
  


“But you told me you didn’t have a sister??” Blue asks her accusingly.  
  


“When the fuck did I say that?!”  
  


“When we first met?! You were there, Lukas!” Blue looks to the boy on the stairs, who looks up from his phone to face the drama he managed to ignore.  
  


“I was where?”  
  


“Remember when you first introduced me and Adriana?” He nods. “And didn’t she say she had no sister, Lukas?” He shakes his head.  
  


“She said she didn’t have a _younger_ sister.”  
  


“ _Exactly!!_ I fucking told you!!” Adriana shouts victoriously, jumping up from her seat and making me feel like I’m watching Maury or some shit in person. What’s expected is that Blue will get up and hug Adriana, apologizing to her for accusing her of cheating, and Adriana will forgive her and they’ll kiss and make up.  
  


And that’s exactly what happens.  
  


Was there really any point in me coming over then?  
  


“Everyone’s okay now?” Nick asks. Adriana and Blue both nod. “Not mad at Chris anymore either?”  
  


“Not mad anymore,” Adriana says with a smile, opening her arms for a hug. I smile and stand up to give her a better hug.  
  


“Okay, good, everyone’s happy! Me and Lukas have somewhere to go in a bit so I’ll see you guys in school tomorrow,” Nick dismisses us, locking the door behind us when we’re out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last chapter will be uploaded either later today or tomorrow


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's like three and a half hours late so I apologize. this is a bittersweet ending, I guess. and happy new year :^)

>>>time skip to about a week later<<<

  
“Can you stop pausing the game every time you’re about to lose?” Ricky asks snappily after I pause the game for the umpteenth time. I laugh a little at the frustrated ghost boy.  
  


“This isn’t why this time,” I inform him, setting my controller aside and getting up.  
  


“So you’re gonna abandon the game because you keep losing?”  
  


“No, Ricky. I gotta take a shit if you must know.”  
  


“Graphic. Didn’t wanna know that,” Ricky fakes disgust teasingly. I wave him off as I exit the room. I know that I should’ve brought my controller with me when I hear the video game unpause. I roll my eyes, not too bothered with it. I was gonna lose anyways… I enter the bathroom, and I’m sure you can guess what happens next.  
  


But as I finish my business, I find that there’s no toilet paper left on the roll.  
  


“Ricky!” I call out to the only other person in the house. No response, so I try again, a little louder this time, “Ricky! I need toilet paper!”  
  


The cheating ghost still doesn’t respond, and doesn’t for the next few minutes, so there’s only one more option for me; get some myself, but it’s all the way in the laundry room.  
  


I carefully stand up and waddle over to the door, being sure to grab my towel and wrap it around my waist for more privacy.  
  


I step out into the hallway and head to the stairs, but going downstairs with your pants around your ankles is _never_ a good idea. I lose my footing and my balance, sending myself tumbling headfirst down the stairs.  
  


<><><>  
  


I find myself waking up at the bottom of stairs when someone shoves me lightly. I feel as if I was hit by a truck or some shit, and… I don’t even know what this is, I’ve never felt this before… It’s not fun at all.  
  


I open my eyes, immediately making eye contact with my boyfriend, who managed to look both sympathetic and amused at the same time. I furrow my brows at him as I sit up with Ricky’s help.  
  


“Do you know what happened?” Ricky asks me when he notices my confused expression. I shake my head. “You, uh… kinda broke your neck and died.”  
  


And then I’m slapped in the face with memories of the final moments of my life- I cringe from embarrassment. So that means-  
  


I glance down my legs, blushing furiously as I find that my pants are, indeed, still wrapped around my ankles.  
  


“Out of all the ways I could’ve died, it had to be tripping over my pants and falling down the stairs,” I cry out, hastily pulling my pants back up my legs as Ricky laughs at me in my mortified state. “How long was I dead?”  
  


“Like, a few hours or something. Your mom is outside calling a friend so she can stay somewhere else,” Ricky answers, and I go pale.  
  


Was she the one who found me? It had to have been…  
  


Dude, her _only child_ is dead. And it’s all because I took a shit without checking to see if there was any toilet paper first. This probably would’ve been funny if my mom wasn’t so fucking crushed and miserable, which I’m sure she is.  
  


Fuck, man. Always check for toilet paper before sitting down. Also, if you use the last bit on the roll, be a doll and get the next roll yourself. This whole fucking thing could’ve been easily prevented…  
  


I should go talk to her and try to comfort her…  
  


I get up to my feet and start towards the door, but when I get there and peak out, I see my mom getting into someone else’s car before they’re driving away.  
  


“Well, fuck, then,” I sigh as I close the door again, slumping against it. “Do you think she’ll ever come back?”  
  


“She should,” Ricky shrugs as he walks over. He places a comforting hand on my shoulder, “I mean, she didn’t bring anything with her.”  
  


“What if her friend sends someone to get her stuff instead?”  
  


“What if she doesn’t?”  
  


I only shrug as I excuse myself to the laundry room to finish the deed that ended me.  
  


<><><>  
  


A few days later, my mom still hasn’t returned. She _did_ send someone to get her things for her though, which I’ll admit, did kill me inside a little- even though I’m dead and can’t be killed any further.  
  


Her dumbass friend thought it’d be a great idea to steal my motherfucking phone so I can’t even contact _any_ of my friends during the weekdays. We can still chill on the weekends because I realized that I could, in fact, leave the house, I just can’t leave the property. So we all hang out on the weekends, and sometimes I use Johnny’s phone to talk to my Scranton friends. I tried to contact my mom with it, but she’s not one to answer phone calls from unfamiliar numbers, which is stupid as shit, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I can only hope she returns home one day.  
  


But anyways, me and Ricky are sat under the fruit tree that’s apparently been here for so long, but I never knew about. It’s just a small pomegranate plant, the fruit not quite ready yet as the seeds weren’t chewy enough and some of them weren’t even red, but they were still pretty good and I liked spitting mine out at Ricky, who would threaten to fight me and spit his at me in return.  
  


“You know what would be good right now?” I ask Ricky as I put more of the sour seeds in my mouth.  
  


“What?”  
  


“Ghost jokes, remember those?”  
  


“Those were bad.”  
  


I spit my seeds at him, and they get launched into his hair. We both laugh at that as he does his best to pluck them out of his hair.  
  


“Why couldn’t the boy ghost have children?” I ask anyways.  
  


“Why?” Ricky asks as he snuggles into my side, allowing himself to get comfortable while he braces himself for my bad jokes.  
  


“He had a hollow weenie!”  
  


“ _Wow_ , Chris.”  
  


“I know. What kind of calls do ghosts make?”  
  


“What?”  
  


“Boo-ty calls!”  
  


“Are all of your jokes gonna be dirty?”  
  


“Jokes don’t have a physical form, so they can’t have dirt on them. Unless the joke is you.”  
  


“You’re not funny.”  
  


I can’t help but laugh at my boyfriend as he fakes offense and pretends to be mad, but I know he’s actually amused.  
  


“What part of Ricky’s body does Chris like the most?”  
  


“His boo-ty.”  
  


“How did you know?”  
  


“Wild guess. How ‘bout some PG-13 ghost jokes?”  
  


“I’m grown, Ricky.”  
  


“I’m still a kid. You pedophile.”  
  


“There’s barely an age difference so what you mean?”  
  


“Just teasing,” Ricky laughs again before he spits more seeds at me. “No more ghost jokes for now.”  
  


“Okay. Love you.”  
  


“Love you too, ya pedophile.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after a sixteen month journey, this fic is over. the feels. i probably should've taken this chapter a little more seriously since i basically killed chris in it and devastated his mom, but i guess it works. so like, thank you guys for all the support and feedback. I love yall <3

**Author's Note:**

> see my tumblr oohyaychicken.tumblr.com for information about my stories, such as updates and upcoming stories :)


End file.
